
Book_ 



/ 



it / 



DEDICATED 

TO THE INHABITANTS 

OF THE UNITED KINGDOM 

IN ARMS, 

TO DEFEND THEIR OWN, 

AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF EUROPE, 

AGAINST THE MAD DESIGNS 

OF THE UNPRINCIPLED USURPER, 

AND THE AMBITIOUS TYRANT 

OF FRANCE. 



EXCURSION 



FRANC E y 

AND OTHER PARTS OF 

THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE; 



THE CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES IN lSoi y 
TO THE I3TH OF DECEMBER 1803, 

INCLUDING 

A NARRATIVE OF THE UNPRECEDENTED DETENTION 
OFTHEENGLJSH TRAVELLERS IN THAT COUNTRY, 
AS PRISONERS OF WAR. 



"""7 • 

By CHARLES MACLEAN, M.D. 




L OND ON: 

PRINTED FOR T. N. LONGMAN AND 0. REES, 
PATER FOSTER- ROW. 



l804. 



Printed by A. Strahai^ 
Printers- Street. 



PRE FA C E. 



In the following pages, the reader will not 
find a regular defcription of the cities, 
towns, or countries, through which I have 
palled, or of the manners and cufioms of 
their inhabitants; neither will he find a 
critique on paintings and buildings, nor a 
hifiory of the prefent ftate of the am and 
fciences. Thefe, particularly as they refpe£t 
France, have been fo repeatedly laid before 
the public, fo repeatedly panegyrifed or 
cenfured, that fcarcely any thing new or 
interefting remains now to be added on the 
fubjed. 

The purpofe of this narrative, for which 

I do not pretend to claim the rank of tra- 

A 3 vels* 



( H ) 

vels, is to communicate unconnected trails 
of public character and proceedings, which 
have come, in fome cafes exclufively, under 
my own obfervation ; fo as to increafe the 
means by which thofe of my countrymen, 
who have not vifited France, may be ena- 
bled to form a judgment of the difference 
between the Englifh and French people, 
and between the Englifti and French go- 
vernments. It includes an account of the 
detention, as prifoners, in direct violation 
of the laws of nations and of the rights of 
hofpitality, of all the Englifh travellers, who 
were in France, or its dependencies, at the 
breaking out of the war ; together with a 
detail of the manner in which, as one of 
the perfons fo circumftanced, I obtained 
permiflion to quit France, and fome parti- 
culars of my journey from Paris to England, 
through Bordeaux. 

The preface to a book, although ufually 
the firft part that is read, is generally the 

laft 



( Si ) 

laft part tliat is written. In reviewing the 
manner in which the following narrative is 
compofed, I confefs I am not by any means 
fatisfied with the execution. From the 
danger that would have attended my keep- 
ing notes fince the commencement of the 
war, it may naturally be expe&ed that the 
details mould be, in fome cafes, inaccurate ; 
and, from the celerity with which a work 
of fuch temporary intereft muft be prepared 
for publication/that the arrangement mould 
be, in many refpe&s, imperfect : yet, it is 
evident that, from the peculiarity of the 
circumftances under which I was placed, an 
account of them mud neceflarily compre- 
hend fomething that is at leaft new. But 
if I were not alfo perfuaded that, notwith- 
ftanding the difad vantages juft mentioned, 
the narrative would be found, in other re- 
fpecls, not unworthy the attention of the 
reader, it mould not have been fubrnitted 
to his perufal. 



At 



( iv ) 

At firft it appeared, for two reafons, d'tf- 
bious whether fuch a narrative ought to be 
published. Having been liberated by the 
French government, after having been, like 
others, unjuftly detained a prifoner of war, 
could my appearing as their enemy be fairly 
conftrued into ingratitude ? or could the 
publication operate againft the Englifh, who 
are flill in France ? 

The firft queftion I did not hefitate to 
refolve in the negative, becaufe it is evident 
that no gratitude can be due for merely 
ceafing to do an injuftice ; and the fecond, 
becaufe, after the mod mature deliberation, 
I was unable to perceive how the publica- 
tion of this narrative could affect, in an 
unfavourable manner, any of the Engliih, 
who are Hill in France. The French go- 
vernment, it is clear, may, if they are fo 
inclined, fuhjecl: them to clofer confinement, 
without waiting for any new pretexts. But 
they will, for their own fakes, take care 

how 



( v ) 
how far they proceed in feverity, fenfible as 
they muft be that it is in our power to make 
a ten-fold retaliation. 

Even in the utmoft bitternefs of political 
hoftility, the ancient government of France 
would never have condefcended to have had 
recourfe to a meafure fo openly unprincipled 
as that of which I have juft fpoken. Not* 
withftanding the numerous abufes of that 
government, it appears probable that a re- 
volution might have been prevented, had 
the king poffeffed more money and lefs 
feeling ; it is certain that it might have been 
prevented had he been as little fcrupulous 
as the prefent ufurper of his throne, or any 
of thofe who have been elevated to dig- 
nities in that country fince his death. Had 
the rich and powerful part of the nation 
come forward in time with offers of an ef- 
fective fupport, they might have laved him, 
the people, and themfelves. Had a body 
pf volunteers, compofed of loyal, patriotic, 

and 



( vi ) 

and affluent members, fuch as at this mo* 
ment grace our impregnable ifland, ftepped 
forth in France to ftem the torrent of 
popular phrenzy, and the irruptions of 
foreign troops, the fcenes of defolation, con- 
vulfion, and death t which have fince agi- 
tated Europe, might have been averted. It 
is a fad effedt of iliort- fighted felfifhneTs by 
which men will run the rifk of lofing every 
thing that is dear to them as members of 
civilifed fociety, rather than infure their ul- 
timate fafety, by making a timeous offering 
of their perfons and their fortunes to the 
neceffities of the flate. The only ufe which 
can now be made of this fad retrofpefl is as 
a warning to the other nations of the world* 
It fliould operate as an example to deter all 
the honeft part of the people from counte- 
nancing or encouraging revolutions, and to 
excite the rich to make every poffible li- 
crifice of their purfe and their perfons, rather 
than by fupinenefs to incur the rifk of fo 
imminent a danger. In this country, the 

threatening 



( vn ) 

threatening attitude of France will for the 
moment produce in the fulleft manner this 
defirable effedt. But fome grand and de- 
cifive meafures are neceflary, in order to 
infure to this nation permanent beneficial 
confequences, and to the independence of 
Europe final triumph. 



ERRATA. 

Page 33, line 5, for en Trance read a une Francaije \ and In the note, for 
in France, read to a Frtncb woman. 

Page 105, line 11, for prtfon read prifons. 

Fa^e 132, 2d line from the bottom, for which they pretend, read to which 
they pretend. 

Page 160 and i6r. From a confufion in the manuscript the whole of the 
article refpec~ting the expence or travelling between London and Edin-r 
burgh, and between Paris and Eordeaux, has been erroneoufly printed. 
The dilance is nearly the fame, about 400 miles. The price of a feat, 
however, is as 10 to 3. If we fuppofe money to be double the value in 
France that it is in England, the proportion, other things being equal, 
ought to be only as fix to three, But allowing for difference of time, 
which is not av';ie cne to three, and the difference of exper.ce which 
thar n.uft occafi n on the road, travelling is upon the whole cheaper, 
independent of fuperior comforts, between London and Edinburgh than h 
js between Paris and Bordeaux j which is the cheapeft road in France* 



AN EXCURSION, 



Preliminary Matter. 

IT had long been my favourite wifli to 
have an opportunity of proving by ex- 
periment, what I had previoufly learnt from 
an indu&ion of reafoning, that maladies, 
ufually called epidemic and peftilential, are 
not, in their nature, contagious, and that, 
under a due application of fcientific princi- 
ples, they eafily admit of a cure. To un- 
dertake, as a fimple individual, an invefti- 
gation of this magnitude, I knew to be 
a very arduous tafk. But my zeal over- 
came my judgment ; and I determined, in 
September 1800, to accompany Mr. Wind- 
ham, thenBritifh Envoy at the court of Tuf- 
B cany, 



( 3 ) 

cany, to Florence ; with a view to em- 
brace the firft opportunity of paffing 
from thence to the Levant, in order to put 
my do&rines to the teft of experiment in 
the plague ; a projecl in which that gentle- 
man promifed to aid me as much as fhould 
lay in his power. But on our arrival at 
Vienna, we learnt that the French troops 
had entered Tufcany, which of courfe, for . 
that time, fruftrated my plan of going to 
Italy. 

Proposition to the Spanish Ambas- 
sador at Vienna. 

At this period a terrible epidemic reigned 
at Cadiz. Wiihing to procure permiffion 
to proceed to that city, I prefented, with 
the knowledge and confent of Lord Minto, 
then Britifh Ambaffador at Vienna, a fhort 
memorial to Don Alanza (I think) the Spa- 
nilli Ambaffador at that court, to the fol- 
lowing purport: " Dr. Charles Maclean has 
the honour to ftate to his Excellency the 
Spanifh Ambaffador, that, as his Excellency 

will 



( 3 ) 

will fee by a publication already handed to 
him, having confidered the fubjed: of epi- 
demic and peftilential difeafes in a point of 
view entirely new, both in regard to their 
caufe and to their cure*, he confidently 
trufts that, without arrogating to himfelf 
any degree of fuperiority over other gentle- 
men of the medical profeffion, he will be 
able, upon his plan, to treat thefe difeafes 
with more than ordinary fuccefs. And, 
confidering that a ftate of political hoflility f 
ought not to interfere with matters of fcience, 
or the relations of humanity, he takes the 
liberty of propofing to his Excellency the 
Spanifh Ambaffador to permit him to pro- 
ceed to Cadiz, there to expofe himfelf to 
every rifk of what is called contagion, in 
endeavouring to cure perfons ill of the epi- 
demic at prefent raging in that city ; for 
which purpofe he requefis his Excellency 

* I did not then know that Dr. Stole of Vienna 
had entertained a fimilar opinion refpec"ling the non- 
contagious nature of trie plague. 

f We v/ere then at war with Spain. 

B 2 would 



( 4 ) 

would have the goodnefs to furnifli him 
with the neceflary paflports." 

His Excellency received me politely; but 
faid he could not grant me a paflport to go 
to Cadiz, without firft writing for permif- 
fion to his court. Upon this I obferved 
that, as before he could receive an anfwer 
from Madrid, and I could repair to Cadiz 
in confequence of that anfwer, fhould it 
prove favourable, the epidemic, not being 
contagious ) but arifing from caufes connected 
with the ftate of the atmofphere, would 
ceafe. This, I predicted, would happen in 
January, which was accordingly the cafe, 

Memorial on the same Subject to 
his Grace the Duke of Portland. 

Difappointed in thefe ohje&s, I returned 
from Vienna to Hamburg, at that time one 
of the mod flourifhing commercial cities in 
the world. From thence, having always 
the fame objecl; in view, I wrote the follow- 
ing 



( 5 ) 

ing memorial to his Grace the Duke of 
Portland, as one of his Majefty's minifters, 
and inclofed it to Lord William Bentinck, 
with whom I had the pleafure of being ac- 
quainted, and who was then in London, 
to be prefented by him to his father. 

My Lord, 
a I have long made the fubje£t of epide- 
mic and peftilential difeafes my particular 
ftudy, and, as is fully explained in my pub- 
lication, a copy of which is herewith tranf- 
mitted, drawn conclusions, refpe&ing both 
the caufe and the cure of thefe difeafes, 
widely different from thofe hitherto com- 
monly received. I have endeavoured to 
prove that plague itfelf is not contagiou s > 
and that it probably admits of an eafy cure. 

" To expatiate on the terrible fatality of 
the epidemic difeafes which, particularly of 
late years, have ravaged the Weft India 
Iflands, depopulated the cities of America, 
laid Cadiz wafte, and almoft annually afflidt 
B 3 many 



( 6 ) 
many parts of the Turkifli dominions, 
would here be fuperfluous. I may, how- 
ever, be allowed to obferve that this fatality, 
if the theory above alluded to be at all true, 
muft have principally arifen from an igno- 
rance of their caufe and of their cure. 

<c It muft, then, be obvious of what im- 
portance a well conducted practical invef- 
tigation of thefe difeafes would be to the in- 
terefts of a very confiderable proportion of 
the human fpecies. But how inadequate to 
the execution of fuch a tafk are the re- 
fources of an unaccredited individual ! And 
how worthy is the object of the attention, 
and encouragement of enlightened govern- 
ments ! 

" From thefe confiderations, and becaufe 
the confined circle of a ftationary medical 
practice is not likely to afford opportunities 
of fubmitting my theories to the teft of ex- 
periment, fo that, if true, they may become 
ufeful to the public, I am defirous of ob- 
taining 



( 7 ) 

taining a fpecial commiJJion % for the pUrpofc 
of employing myfelf exclufively in the 
pra&ical inveftigation of thefe difeafes. 

" As duty requires that I fhould offer my 
fervices, in this line, preferably to the go- 
vernment of which I am a fubjecT: ; and as 
the pofTeffion of Egypt may foon afford the 
opportunity of a practical inveftigation, I 
take the liberty of addrefling your grace 
upon the fubjecl:, in the hope that, in my 
peculiar cafe, fuch an application will not 
be deemed altogether impertinent. I have 
the honour to be, &c. &c. &c. 

" Hamburgh 3d May i8ou" 

The purport of the anfwer I received from 
Lord William Bentinck was, as nearly as I 
can recollect, for I have not his letter now 
by me, that the nature of the arrangements 
made for Egypt did not admit of arv r ew 
medical appointments, &c. Knowing the 
difficulty of procuring a fpecial appointment , 
fuch as i now applied for, without couir :-.-.r- 
B 4 able 



( 8 ) 

able influence, and confidering the fmall 
degree of intereft which I had with the 
government, I was neither furprifed nor 
difappointed at the failure of fuccefs. Con- 
tent with having done what I conceived to 
be my duty, 1 determined patiently to await 
fome more favourable opportunity of carry- 
ing my plan into execution. 

Departure from Hamburg. 

This opportunity I then thought would 
moil certainly occur in France, where fcien- 
tific.projeds, not much more profound than 
mine, were fo fplendidly encouraged and 
patronifed, at leqft in the journals. Accord- 
ingly it was not without fome degree of 
impatience that I remained at Hamburg, in 
the practice of my profeffion, till the fign- 
ing of preliminary articles of peace, be- 
tween Great Britain and France, gave me 
an opportunity of vifiting, with propriety, 
the revolutionary theatre, on which fo many 
aftonifhing, fo many great, and fo many 

atrocious 



( 9 ) 

atrocious a&ions, had fo recently been per- 
formed. 

I left Hamburg, not without regret at 
parting with marry worthy friends and ac- 
quaintances in that city, in November i8or, 
with a paffport from the Dutch charge cC af- 
faires ^ . Mr. Reinholdt, authorifing me to 
pafs through Holland ; Sir James Craufurd, 
then Britifh Minifter for the circle of Lower 
Saxony, thinking it inconfiftent with his 
duty to grant me a paflport to go to France. 

The fenfations of travellers, whether they 
flop at dirty inns, are jolted over bad 
roads, over-fet by the careleflhefs of Poftil- 
lions, or detained for hours, as frequently 
happens in Germany, in changing horfes 
at a Pofthoufe, are fo nearly the fame that 
to defcribe mine, on this occafion, would 
be only to give a repetition of what the 
reader muft no doubt have frequently read, 
or fuffered. If he be of a fentimental turn, 
I would advife him not to travel from Ham- 
burg 



( io ) 

burg to Amfterdam in the month of No- 
vember. 

Arrival at Amsterdam; State of 
Holland. 

Having been fupplied with letters of re- 
commendation to feveral refpedable houfes 
at Amfterdam, I pafled eight days very 
agreeably in that city. Thofe from Mr. 
John Schuback junior, and Mr. George 
Thompfon, of Hamburg, two as worthy 
men as I ever knew, and to whom I am 
under many obligations, were of particular 
fervice to me. At this period, Holland was, 
in many places, overflown with water ; but 
travelling was not thereby rendered uncom- 
fortable. The beauty of the towns, and 
the induftry of the people have frequently 
been the fubjecl: of panegyric ; and perhaps 
they have never been too highly extolled. 
There are many admirable fubje&s of con- 
templation in Holland. The paintings in 
the town houfe, reprefenting the noble ex- 
ploits 



( » ) 

ploits of the Dutch patriots, who refcucd 
their country from the yoke of Spanifh ty- 
ranny, are well calculated to elevate the 
foul, and to perpetuate fentiments of inde- 
pendence : I have fometimes wondered that 
thefe monuments of true grandeur have not 
been carried off, or deftroyed, by the de- 
fpotic rulers of France, left they Should in- 
jure their caufe, by occaiionally reminding 
the Dutch people that they have rights and 
had liberty. Thefe unfortunate people are, 
ere this, no doubt well convinced of the 
little difference there is between a Spanifh 
and a Corjlcan tyrant; and the day may 
even not be far diftant when they will be 
roufed to imitate the example of their illuf- 
trious anceftors. 

To behold their dock-yards, formerly fo 
flourishing, almoft empty ; the few fhips 
they had remaining, of a once numerous 
navy, difmantled ; their commerce, hereto^ 
fore the envy of the world, fcarcely begin- 
ning to revive ; their induftry, credit, and 
confidence, once proverbial among nations, 

almoft 



( M ) 

almoft annihilated ; to behold, I fay, thefe 
fad efFe&s of their unhappy connection 
with France, brought very melancholy re- 
flections to my mind. Ill- fated people! 
while you remain under the dominion of 
France, England mud be your enemy. 
How difmal is the profpecl: before you ! to 
be pillaged and opprefled on one fide, plun- 
dered and beaten on the other. If his Ma- 
jefty of Pruflia had been gifted with true 
grandeur of foul, what crimes might he not 
have prevented ! 

The King of Prussia. 

I do not hope the King of Pruflia will be 
punifhed for the duplicity, or rather the 
imbecility, of his conduct, fince the com- 
mencement of the French revolution. But 
this I affirm, that if the Gorfican found it 
fuitable to his views, he would no more 
hefitate to feize, and mortgage the city of 
Berlin, than he has to feize and mortgage 
the Electorate of Hanover ; and that not a 
man in Europe, let his fituation or rank in 

life 



( IJ ) 

life be what it may, would deferve lefs 
commiferation, for the lofs of property or 
of power, than the King of Pruffia. 

Rotterdam. 

Commercial activity had here begun to 
become more apparent than at Amfterdam* 
Several Englifh merchants, who left the 
place during the war, had returned to 
recommence bufinefs. Among thefe was 
Mr. G. Crawford, from whom I received 
much civility during my ftay. I never faw 
a town in which the inns are more wretched 
than in this. It was with difficulty we could 
get decent accommodations, or tolerable at- 
tendance. The leaft bad was at an Englifli 
houfe, of which the landlord is a true Bon- 
ny face. Good Taverns are, perhaps, ren- 
dered lefs neceflary by the hofpitality of the 
inhabitants. 



Antwerp. 



( 14 ) 

Antwerp. Reflections on Emigra- 
tion. 

From Rotterdam, I proceeded, by the 
ufual route, to Antwerp. The roads were 
generally very bad and deep, and we 
met with more than ufual impofition. At 
Antwerp feveral commercial houfes of Lon- 
don, Amfterdam, Hamburg, &c. had 
formed eftablifhments, of which I am per- 
fuaded that all of them have, by this time, 
had ample reafon to repent. Indeed I 
knew, from fubfequent experience, that 
fcarcely an Englifhman, who has fettled in 
any line in France fince the late peace, but 
has abandoned it and returned to his coun- 
try, after having been fcandaloufly plun. 
dered or deceived, with perhaps the excep- 
tion of a very few, for whom particular 
circumftances might have rendered it im- 
poffible with fafety to return. I was ac- 
quainted with a Frenchman, who came to 
vifit his native country, after having refided 
for many years in America, He declared to 
2 me 



( ** ) 

me that he could not believe his country- 
men to be the fame people, among whom 
he had formerly lived ; and that no confe- 
deration upon earth could prevail upon him 
to fettle in France K 

Another Frenchman, under fimilar cir- 
cumftances, had bought an efiate in the vi- 
cinity of one of the feaport towns ; but 
lately refold it, in order to return to Ame- 
rica, fuch was his difguft for the increasing 
immorality of his countrymen f. In fay- 
ing this, I hope not to be mifunderftood, as 
giving a preference to America over Great 
Britain, No ! after having travelled over 
aconfiderable portion of the globe, I folemn- 
ly declare that I believe Great Britain to be 
the very firft fpot upon earth for an honeft 
man to refide in ; and that the poor de- 
luded people, who emigrate from any part 

* The reafon mud be obvious to every one, why it 
would be improper to mention this perfon's name. 

f How, indeed, can men, familiariftd with ideas 
of devaluation and plunder, retain ideas of morality ? 

of 



( 16 ) 

of the united kingdom, to feek a better lot 
in America, are highly deferving of com- 
miferation. 

While upon this fubjeft, I would recom~ 
mend to thofe, who have the mania of emi- 
grating to America, to perufe General Lee's 
laft letter to his fitter, publiflied in the 
memoirs of his life. It is worthy of their 
moil ferious attention ; the more efpecially 
as great induftry and mifreprefentation are 
pra&ifed by American fpeculators in land, to 
induce people to emigrate, from every part 
of Europe, to that country. 

Journey from Antwerp to Paris, 
through Brussels. 

At Antwerp, I met with fome difficulty 
about my paflport, from its not having been 
figned by the French Ambaflador at the 
Hague. But this was removed by a Dutch 
merchant, refident in the place, becoming 
fecurify for me to the Mayor. Thus far I 
travelled poft ; but having here parted with 
I a fel- 



( *7 ) 

a fellow-traveller who was returning, by 
Calais, to England, I took places for myfelf 
and fervant in the diligence to Bruffels. 
Before we entered the town, our paflports 
were examined. The officer, who per- 
formed this ceremony, obferving one perfon 
more than the paffports enumerated, en- 
quired who he was. I told him, he was 
my fervant. " You did very wrong, Sir, 
" not to have got his name inferted in the 
c< paflport." It was not ray faulr, I re- 
plied ; I reported him at the Mayor's Office 
at Antwerp, and they there informed me it 
was unneceflary to mention him in the paff- 
port. "I muft repeat, Sir, that you have 
" done very wrong : how fhould I know 
4C that he, whom you are harbouring as 
li your fervant, may not be a returned emi- 
u grant ?" Look in his face, and if you 
fufpect him to be an emigrant, take him. 
Looking in his face, which was certainly 
one of the moil diftant, both in figure and 
complexion, from a French one that can 
poffibly be imagined (the lad was a broad 
C faced, 



( i8 ) 

faced, ruddy cheeked native of Sweden)* 
fmiled, and faid we might proceed. We 
met with no farther interruption refpeding 
paflports, and arrived in Paris on the 10th 
of December in the evening. 

Paris. 
There were but few Englifh in town, and 
thefe principally officers returning from 
Egypt. The morning after my arrival, I 
called upon a French merchant who had 
travelled with me from Amfterdam to Rot- 
terdam, and who had given me his addrefs 
in Paris, with many profeffions of regard, 
which I placed entirely to the account of the 
ufual urbanity of the nation. He imme- 
diately procured me lodgings, which were 
elegant indeed, but rather high rented- 
This want of coafideration I willingly im- 
puted to his wiili to do me honour as a 
ftranger. He invited me to his houfe, and 
made frequent parties of Builhttc *: in the 

* A fafhiouabJe game at cards at Paris, which afford* 
eonildera':!e l^tiiixte to the dexterity of the players-. 

evenings, 



( »9 ) 

evenings, at which I was only afked to fit 
down now and then in my turn, and regu- 
larly loft my few crowns of a night, with- 
out repining. The next ftep was the for- 
mation of parties to the theatre. An officer 
of the army who had juft got a new ap- 
pointment, and was about to leave town on 
an embaffy, I perceived was the friend of 
the family ; and I was feemingly looked to 
as the heir apparent to the fucceflion. My 
hoft, I thought, (hewed much good-natured 
curiofity to afcertain whether my property 
in England was vefted in lands, or in the 
funds ; for he concluded, from feeing me 
travel with a fervant, that I was a man of 
fortune : and my hoftefs, probably upon 
the fame prefumption, evinced the raoft 
amiable difpofition to inftrud me in all the 
niceties of French manners. 

After a fortnight, I found it neceflary to 
put an end to their delufion, to drop the 
acquaintance, and to look out for lodgings 
on a more moderate fcale. 

C 2 Memo- 



( so ) 

Memorial presented to the Mini- 
ster of the Interior. 

After looking round me, for a few months, 
jn the metropolis, I began to confider of the 
bell means of carrying my project into ex- 
ecution, refpe&ing the inveftigation of the 
plague. In March 1802, I had a memo- 
rial on this fubjecT: prefented to the Minifter 
of the Interior, which he referred to the 
College of Phyficians of Paris (L'Ecok de 
Medecine de Paris\ defiring them to make 
him a report refpe&ing its contents. Upon 
receiving that report, he wrote me a very 
polite letter, faying that my plan had been 
found of too extenfive a nature to be carried 
into execution, and praifing highly my zeal 
in the caufe of humanity. 

By the time I was four months ac- 
quainted with the politics of Paris, I cer- 
tainly could have had no good reafon to 
expect any other refult. I could have had 

no 



( ** ) 

no good reafon to expect that, " abftrad- 
ed from all fubordinate confiderations of 
party, cabal or intrigue, the project, which 
1 had the honour to prefent, being fully 
underjloody mould meet with a reception 
meafured folely by its intrinfic merit */* 

Aware how little this is the cafe in mod 
governments, but more efpecially in that 
of France, I had the memorial prefented to 
Citizen Chaptal, through the medium of 
Senator Perregaux, to whom I fubmitted a 
copy of it for perufal. He returned it to 
me with the following polite note : " Mr. 
Perregaux prefents his bed compliments to 
Mr. Maclean, and returns him the manu- 
fcript he left him to read. He has per- 
ufed it with that fatisfa&ion, which is call- 
ed forth by benevolence and humanity, 
and fincerely wifties his views may be put in 
practice. But he does not think his plan 
Dan be of fo much intereft to this country, 

• Words of the Memorial. 



C3 



as 



( « ) 

as to thofe that have great commercial con- 
nexions with the Levant. 

" Paris, 8th April 1802." 

With this opinion of Mr. Perregaux, con- 
fidering the projed: in a view of commercial 
intereft, I entirely coincide. But confider- 
ing it with a view to the advancement of 
fcience, it is equally the intereft of all na- 
tions that it fhould be carried into execu- 
tion. The plan was (imply this ; " To 
eftablifh an inftitution at Conftantinople, or 
fome other part of the Levant, for the treat- 
ment and inveftigation of the plague : 
that the funds neceffary for this inftitu- 
tion fhould be provided by means of vo- 
luntary fubfcriptions of governments and of 
jndividuals : that it fhould be under the fu- 
perintendance of all the foreign ambaffa- 
dors at Conftantinople for the time being, 
and of one of the members of the Ottoman 
government : that the Sublime Port fhould 
be invited to allot a certain diftrict of land 
for the eftablifhrnent of the neceffary build- 
ings, &c. ; and to confer on it certain pri- 

vUegeSt 



( *3 ) 

vileges and immunities, fuch as could be 
accorded without offence to any of the laws 
or cuftoms of the country," &c. 

This outline will be fufficient to give a 
general idea of the plan I had propofed, 
which, it mull be confeffed, does flfot, ia 
its nature, appear to poffefs any very extra- 
ordinary degree of complexity or extent. 
But as circumftances fubfequently turned 
out, I am rather pleafed, in as far as I might 
have myfelf been concerned in carrying it 
into execution, that it was not adopted. 

Object of the Proposal to form 

an Establishment at Constan- 
tinople. 

The propofal to form fuch an eftablifh- 
ment as is here defcribed,had a double ob^ 

jeft. 

i ft, To prove, by the application of prin- 
ciples to practice, that medicine is a fciencc, 
and not a conjectural art. 

G 4 2dly ? 



( 2 4 ) 

sdly, To fhew that plague is not conta- 
gious, but depends on the ftates and viciffi- 
tudes of the atmofphere; and that it is eafily 
capable of being cured. 

Formerly the philanthropic Howard, and 
latterly many individuals have attempted to 
make experiments on the plague. But it 
appears to me that all inveftigators, who 
have not the means of cure in their power, 
or fet out with pre-conceived notions of 
contagion, mud neceiTarily continue to grope 
in the dark. Praife indeed is always due 
to zeal in a good caufe,: but zeal is truly 
ufeful only when it is well directed. 

Here I difmifs the fubjecT: for the prefent, 
perhaps indeed for ever. As an individual, 
it is not very probable that I fhall ever pof- 
fefs a fum of power or of influence, fuiH* 
cient to vanquifh the prejudices, and ob- 
ftacles of every kind, which fo extenfive an 
invefligation would have to encounter. But 
fhouid any government, or governments, 

or 



( *5 ) 

pr any powerful body of men, do themfelves 
the honour of patronizing, in an efficient 
manner, fo noble and ufeful an enquiry, I 
fhall always be ready to rifk my life and 
reputation in giving practical proof of the 
do&rines, which I have advanced on thefe 
fubje&s. 

State of Medicine in France. 

From the moment, my plan was con- 
signed to the College of Phyficians, I re- 
garded the project as hopelefs, and for a 
while turned my views to fpeculations of 
private practice. But it was impoffible not 
to feel that medicine is in a more degraded 
fiate in France, both as an art and a profef- 
fion, than in any other civilized country of 
Europe. Operative furgery, indeed, is car- 
ried to a considerable degree of excellence. 
But the knowledge of rendering operations 
unneceflary is of infinitely more importance 
than a dexterity in performing them. 

While 



( 26 ) 

While in Germany medicine, if it does 
not make rapid progrefs toward perfection 
as a fcience, is at Jeaft acknowledged to be 
fuch ; the publications, which have, of late 
years, appeared in France on the fubjed:, 
would fcarcely do credit even to the fifteenth 
century. Did I know of a fingle exception 
to this remark ; did I know of any one 
publication, in which principles are efta- 
blifhed, or attempted to be eftablifhed, it 
would give me much pleafure to mention 
it ; and I fhould be very happy that, for 
the fake of fcience, my afiertion could be 
proved to be wholly unfounded. 

As a profeffion, medicine in France is, if 
poffible, lefs lucrative, than it is refpe&able 
as an art. The ordinary fee from trades- 
men is half a crown a vifit ; but the pa- 
tient, in the end, generally pays in number, 
what is deficient in the amount of fees. 
This is fo common a praflice that a phyfi- 
cian, who does not make his patient more 
vifits than his fituation ftri&ly requires, runs 

a great 



( 27 ) 

a great rifk of being looked upon as a 
fool. I remember having been called to 
a confutation on the cafe of an Englifh 
young lady at the Hotel V Angleterre, Rue 
Fille St. Thomas, along with a French phy- 
fician, who had previoufly prefcribed for 
her. After a few vifits, the lady's fever 
was removed, and I told the father that, 
as there was no longer occafion for the at- 
tendance of two phyficians, I fliould not 
come any more. Upon mentioning my 
opinion to the French phyfician, he faid in 
a tone of mild remonftrance : mats venez 
toujour s y mon chere confrere; cejl un boii 
enfant, H pays b'ten. Continue to come, 
my dear colleague ; he is a good fellow ; 
he can pay well. 

Miss D . 

Before I difmifs the fubjedi of medicine, 
I will relate another profeffional anecdote, 
on account of the characteriftic traits it 
contains of French manners. A maiden 
}ady from Ireland, about fixty years of age, 

had 



( rt. ) 

- had retired to France, in order to live fru- 
gally, and to fave money for a numerous 
generation of nephews and nieces. But 
flie carried her frugality fo far as to deny 
herfelf almoft all the comforts, and even 
fome of the neceflaries of life ; by which 
means (he became emaciated, her ftomach 
very feeble, and her whole frame nervous 
to an alarming degree. As if this was not 
enough, fhe fell into the habit of taking 
periodical emetics. A friend of her's en- 
deavoured repeatedly to prevail upon her to 
call in medical affiftance ; but in vain. At 
laft, however, fhe became fo dangeroufly 
iil that (he confe-nted to fend for me. I 
called late in the evening,, found her feeble 
and emaciated, but her pulfe good and her 
underftanding clear. Her complaint feemed 
to be the effect of long continued deprivations. 

Not choofing, from fo flight an examina- 
tion, to form a decifive opinion refpecling 
the nature of her malady, nor to adopt any 
fyftematic mode of treatment, I only pre- 
ferred 



( *9 ) 

fcribed fome inefficacious remedy in order 
to fatisfy her mind, and after recommend- 
ing to have a nurfe to fit up with her, pro- 
mifed to call again in the morning. When 
I returned in the morning, I found that 
fhe did not permit any perfon to fit up with 
her, but, after I left her, got out of bed 
and bolted her door. The people of the 
houfe had knocked repeatedly, but could 
get no admiffion, nor any anfwer. I was 
equally unfuccefsfuh But being informed 
that fhe had a habit of locking her door, 
and not anfwering thofe who knocked at it, 
unlefs they were her particular friends, I 
thought it beft to go in fearch of a lady 
with whom fhe was intimate, and who lived 
in the neighbourhood, before I fhould pro- 
ceed to have the door opened by force. 

I found the lady: fhe came, knocked 
and called repeatedly, but to no purpofe. 
We concluded that fhe was dead ; fent for 
the landlord, and requefted that, if it was 
according to law, he would order a lock- 

fmith 



( 36 ) 

fmith to come and pick the lock. He did 
fo ; and we found, as we expected, that flie 
was dead. What was now to be done? 
The police officer, the juftice of the peace, 
(juge de fiazXy) and the furgeon {officier de 
/ante) of the diftrid were to be called. 
They arrived. The furgeon examined the 
body, the police officer wrote a proces- 
verbal, or declaration, of the proceedings, 
and the juftice of the peace took an inven- 
tory of the wardrobe and other effe&s of 
the deceafed ; which he locked up under the 
national feal, with the exception of 40 1. or 
50 1. of cafh that was found in her writing- 
defk, and which he took poffeffion of, in 
order to anfwer the expences of the funeral, 
and to pay any debts flie might have con- 
traded. The property fo locked up re- 
mains under feal, until it is claimed by 
the neareft of kin, or the perfon in whofe 
favour a will may have been made by the 
deceafed ; and, in the event of its not being 
claimed within the fpace of twelve months, 
it goes to the nation, 

5 The 



( M ) 

The deceafed lay with her head on the 
pillow, her right arm reclined over her 
brcaft, and as little disfigured as if ftie had 
been jying a profound fleep. Notwith- 
Handing this placid appearance, the French 
efficier de /ante reported a great variety of 
fymptoms, indicating violent death, fuch as 
foaming at the mouth, livid colour of the 
countenance, a fwelling of the ftomach, and 
an attitude indicating the pre-exiftence of 
ftrong convulfive efforts, &c. Here I 
could not help interrupting my colleague, 
and telling him I could perceive none 
of the phenomena he had been deferr- 
ing. " Ce riejl rien? faid he, " Cejlfeule- 
merit une formaliti" (It is nothing but a 
form.) At the fame time one of the 
byeftanders whifpered in my ear: "don't 
you know that he receives 5 or 6 louis 
d'ors for opening the body ?" — The friend 
of the deceafed was quite fcandalifed at the 
idea of the body being opened, and wiilied 
me to oppofe it. But upon reprefenting that, 
as I had prefcribed for her the night be- 
fore, 



( 3 s ) 
fore, if I obje&ed to the body being opened* 
the man who would lofe his fee, if my vote 
prevailed, might choofe to reprefent me as 
a poifoner, (aflertions in which K $as not 
ignorant that members of the faculty were 
fometimes capable of indulging) I would 
not, for the fake of faving 5I. or 61. to the 
relations of the deceafed, whom I did not 
know, incur fo formidable a cenfure, fhe 
acquiefced. 

The following morning was appointed for 
the difie&ion. That operation was accord- 
ingly performed ; and as it was not necef- 
fary for my colleague to find any fymptoms 
of violent death internally , none were found. 
It was right, however, that he fhould af- 
fign the caufc of her death. This he rea- 
dily difcovered in the internal coat of the 
ftomach 5 and in the mefenteric glands. 
But what moil pleafed and furprifed the 
fpeftators was to find that the lady, although 
about fixty years of age, was yet a virgin. 
Mon Bleu I ejl 11 poffible * ? exclaimed the 

* Good God ! is it poffible ? ~ . 



( 33 ) 

ojficier de /ante and his afliftants. Ah I 
monDieu! mon Dieu! monDieu! exclaimed 
the landlady, who was prefent the whole 
time, cefl incroyable ; une telle chofe rfauroit 
pu arriver en France *. She danced about 
the room in a kind of exftacy, as the ma- 
thematician of old is reported to have done, 
upon his having accidentally difcovered the 
folution of an important problem, while 
bathing. 

Observations on the actual State 
of France, and Conjectures on 
probable Changes. 

From a mild monarchy, limited by cer- 
tain conftitutional forms, France, under the 
influence of a dreadful fanaticifm, paflfed to 
a ftate of anarchy falfely denominated re- 
publicanifm, and from that, by a natural 
tranfition, to a deftru&ive and odious mili- 

* Oh ! my God ! my God ! my God ! it's incre- 
dible : fuch a thing could not have happened in 
France. 

D tary 



( 34 ) 

tary defpotifm. All Frenchmen, even the 
moft violent partifans of the revolution, are 
obliged to confefs that there is, at this mo- 
ment, lefs liberty, le'fs juftice, lefs equality and 
fraternity, excepting as it is written on the 
walls of their public buildings, heavier taxa- 
tion, and confequently lefs general happi- 
nefs in France, than exifted under the mo- 
narchy. To what purpofe, then, was this 
terrible convulfion, which deftroyed, with 
indifcriminating fury, every ancient land- 
mark ? In the phyfical world, a thunder 
ftorm, if it fometimes produces calamitous 
effeds, at leaft purifies the atmofphere, and 
renders it more fit for refpiration. But the 
atmofphere of France, after the purifications 
of the revolutionary ftorm, if we may judge 
from facls, feems only fit for the refpiration 
' ©f idolaters and flaves. 

If the executive directory had been, what 
they pretended to be, republicans; or if 
they had been ? what is ftill better, honeft 

men. 



( 35 ) 

men, difcharging faithfully the truft repofed 
in them by the people, they would have ar* 
relied Bonaparte, on his arrival from Egypt, 
and treated him as a deferter from his 
army. But Moulin was the only man 
among them who, on that occafion, had the 
fpirit or the honefty to attempt to do his 
duty. The failure of his attempt has un- 
fortunately prolonged the agonies and cala- 
mities of the world. I have adduced this 
fa£t on account of the inftru&ive leflbns, 
which it affords. It fhews that it is impof- 
fible to impofe republicanifm on a people, 
who have not previoufly fentiments of li- 
berty in their minds ; and that the attempt 
is both foolifh and criminal. It fhews that a 
people, who are not familiar with thofe noble 
fentiments, muft always have an idol of the 
day, to whom they bow down and fing 
Hofannahs. In England, where happily 
fentiments of liberty grow with our growth 
and ftrengthen with our ftrength, no fuch 
idolatry can exift. Even the perfon of the 
D 2 fovereiga 



( 36 ) 

fovereign is regarded as facred, only in as 
far as he forms a branch of our venerable 
conftitution. What individual in this 
country dare to relinquifh his command, 
without leave, or to put himfelf above the 
laws ? Is there any man in it upon whom 
the public think the fafety of the ftate ex- 
clufively depends ? Not one ! I therefore fay 
that, in. my opinion, the people of this 
country, having the true fentiments of li- 
berty deeply engrafted on their minds, of 
which the fact I have ftated is a proof, are, 
without exception, the freeft people in the 
univerfe. I fay without exception, becaufe 
in America Wafhington was an idol of the 
day, upon whom individually it was thought 
by many the fafety of the ftate depended ; 
and in Helvetia, the fame thing happened 
with refpecl: to Aloys Reding. 

But to return to France, its government 
forms, at this moment, the raoft odious mi- 
litary defpotifm that has ever exifted in the 

world. 



( 37. ) 

world. It is clear, however, that this ftate 
of things cannot long continue to exift. 
The tyrant muft either fucceed in his pro- 
jects againfl England, and confequently in 
deftroying the independence of Europe, and 
afterwards the liberties of the Weftern 
world ; that is, he muft fucceed in efta- 
blifhing an univerfal defpotifm ; or he muft 
be defeated by England, and, if he does not 
die in the field of battle, fall a facrifice to 
the juft refentment of the people, whom he 
has duped, difhonoured and enflaved. 

The former I cannot for a moment fup- 
pofe poflible ; the latter is, therefore, what 
I regard as inevitable. The tyrant being 
deftroyed, what would be the probable fate 
of unfortunate France ? Would it revert to 
a monarchy, or to a popular reprefentation ? 
Or would the prefent ridiculous conftitution, 
with a new Firft Conful, be preferved ? This 
is what no man can, perhaps, with any 
degree of certainty, pronounce. We may 
D 3 be 



i 38 ) 

be allowed, however, to indulge in a few 
conjectures. 

In January 1803, in a conference be- 
tween the Swifs deputies and Bonaparte, 
Rsederer made this remark : " between men 
of fenfe," faid he to one of the deputies, 
" it ought not to be made a myftery that 
France, fo long accuftomed to monarchical 
forms, is in effect again become a monar- 
chy ." To this obfervation I do not by any 
means affent, conceiving as I do that there 
is a wide difference between a complete 
defpotifm, fuch as exifts in the perfon of Bo- 
naparte, and a monarchy, fuch as formerly 
exifted in France* The antients made a 
proper diftin&ion between kings and tyrants* 
They fpeak with refpedt of the conftitu- 
tional kings of Sparta, but with indignation 
of the tyrant of Syracufe. With due de- 
ference to citizen Rsederer (if I mayfo pros- 
titute an appellation which in a real republic 
would be refpe&able) 1 affert that, whatever 
it may be hereafter, France is not certainly, 

at 



( 39 ) 

at this moment, either in form, or in effec% 
a monarchy. 

Converfing with a moft ingenious man 
in Paris, upon the probable changes that 
would happen in that country, on the fall 
of the tyrant (a twelvemonth ago the po- 
litical calculators of that city did not allow 
him more than two years to reign), he made 
this remark : " the elements of monarchy 
are deftroyed, and thofe of republicanifm do 
not exift." There is much weighty truth 
in this obfervation. — The nobility, as a 
body, the clergy as a body, the parliaments 
as bodies ; in fhort all the elements, which 
compofed the ancient monarchy, have been 
deftroyed ; and it would, no doubt, al- 
though it may even be the general wi(h of 
the people, be very difficult to recompofe 
them. This difficulty would arife, in the 
firft place, from the fears of all thofe, who 
took an a&ive part in the revolution, and 
who now hold places under the government* 
that in the event of acounter-revolution, they 
D 4 would 



( 4° ) 

would be perfecuted ; and, in the next place, 
from the apprehenfions of thofe, who have 
become holders of national property, that, 
in fuch a cafe, they would lofe the wealth 
they have acquired. With refpe£fc to op- 
pofition on the fcore of principle, I appre- 
hend it would be fo trifling that it is not 
worthy of being brought into the calcula- 
tion, It remains to be afeertained whether 
the wifdom, the moderation and the means 
of the parties to be reinftated, are adequate 
to overcome the difficulties arifing from 
thefe caufes. It is a problem, which I will 
not pretend to foive. 

That the elements of republicanifm do 
not exift in France, I am certain, becaufe 
of all the people I have feen and converfed 
with in that country, there are very few 
indeed, who have fentiments of liberty 
deeply rooted in their minds ; and becaufe 
I have obferved that thofe, who, during 
the reign of the mob, made the greateft 
pretenfions to thefe fentiments, are now 

become 



(41 ) 
become the moft devoted inftruments of the 
tyrant. At the fame time that the elements 
of republicanifm are wanting, it is likely 
that the interefts of thofe who have parti* 
cipated in the revolution, or become ac- 
quirers of national property, as well as 
their fafety, may induce them, on the fall 
of the tyrant, to attempt the re-eftablifh- 
ment of a popular form of government. 
Whether the adivity and means of this 
party would be fuperior to thofe of the 
party wiftiing the re-eftablifhment of mo- 
narchy, is a queftion which the event alone 
can decide. 

That the confular form of government, 
will not furvive its founder, I have much 
lefs hefitation in concluding : becaufe, being 
eftablifhed upon no principle, it refts en- 
tirely on the perfon of the tyrant as its bails : 
and from the inftability of the French cha- 
fader, fo habitually prone to change. 

8 One 



( 42 ) 

One thing is certain, that whatever 
change takes place, it cannot prove more 
unfavourable to the happinefs of France, 
or the independence of Europe. 

In contemplating the affairs of that 
country, it would feem that there was 
fcarcely a public in exiftence, and that every 
thing valuable appertaining to the nation 
was comprehended in the perfon and family 
of the Firft Conful. We (hall therefore give 
precedence to a fhort Iketch of the confular 
family. 

Bo parte, his Character and 

Views. 

Mental and corporeal inebriation obferve 
a fimilar progrefs, and depend equally upon 
the operation of external powers. The one 
is not more certainly produced by the ap- 
plication of wine, than the other by the 
application of flattery. 

Bonaparte, 



( 43 ) 

Bonaparte, arriving at years of maturity, 
with a mind unufually penetrating, vigor- 
ous and decifive, and at a moft extraor- 
dinary period in the hiitory of the world, 
was naturally led forward to projects of 
ambition. Having obtained the command 
of an army, by means which in fome coun- 
tries would be reckoned difgraceful, he 
had in that ftation an opportunity of 
giving full fcope to the energies of his ex- 
traordinary faculties. He commanded vic- 
tory, becaufe he employed the fure means 
of commanding it, the facrifice of as many 
men as was neceffary to gain his objecT:. 
His fame once eftablifhed, fewer phyficai 
means fufficed to produce equal effects. 
But at St. Jean D'Acre, where he could not 
apply this principle, from being neceffarily 
limited to a certain quantity of force, he 
was for that very reafon defeated. 

Poffeffing in the higheft degree many of 
the moft brilliant qualities of a great general, 
a facility of repairing defeat, celerity and 

pre- 



( 44 ) 

prefenceofmmdindanger,hisunderftanding 
however could not withftand the influence 
of the fuccefs which it commanded. The 
torrent of praife, flattery and adulation, 
which has conftantly poured in upon him, 
fince his firft victories in Italy, was irrefti- 
ble. But it was not until the confulate 
for life, and all its dreadful chain of con- 
fequences, that his mind has been wholly 
overthrown. The poifon fince that period 
daily adminiftered, through the columns of 
the Moniteur, by the fervile crew, calling 
themfelves the conftituted authorities of 
France, but in reality the valets of the Firft 
Conful, was too potent not to undermine 
an intellect merely human : and Bonaparte 
at this moment Hands a miferable and un^- 
happy monument of mental intoxication. 

In thus attributing Bonaparte's delirium 
to external caufes, I fhall not be fufpe&ed 
of becoming his apologift. I know that 
the effects of infanity are the fame, from 
whatever caufe it may fpring. I know that 

if 



( 45 ) 

if there were no flaves there would be no 
tyrants ; if there were no idolaters there 
would be no idols : — and that when flatter- 
ers, flaves, and idolaters, unite in any quarter 
of the globe to form a mad, tyrannical idol, 
all the reft of the world fhould unite to 
prevent its doing mifchief. 

Bonaparte has alfo got his idol ; it is what 
he calls his glory, (but properly fpeaking 
power,) to which there is nothing in heaven 
above, or on the earth beneath, or in the 
waters under the earth, that he w r ould not 
facrifice ; and I am fully perfuaded that he 
thinks nothing adequate to the completion 
of his glory fhort of univerfal empire. 
There was a time, indeed, when the pu- 
rity of his intentions might have admitted 
of fome doubt. There was a time when 
many perfons expected he would have re- 
tired from power, like Wafhington, and 
left an unfullied reputation behind him. 
But from the moment his refolution of 
being declared conful for life (to call it an 

eledion 



( 46 ) 

election would be abfurd) was promulgated* 
all reflecting men confidered the die as caft. 
The Rubicon was pafled ; and there was no 
return. 

In order to,i>e convinced of his moft feri- 
oufly entertaining projects of univerfal em- 
pire, it is only neceffary to trace his con- 
ftant, regular and gradual progreffion to the 
attainment of that defpotic fway which he 
actually poffefles. Or can any one, who 
is of a different opinion, fay where he will 
flop? 

Univerfal empire, indeed, in the prefent 
ftate of the world, mufl appear to any ra- 
tional man, utterly impofiibleto be attained : 
but a man, intoxicated with power and 
adulation, is not rational. The object, 
however, becomes impoffible to be attained, 
only becaufe it is impoffible the powers of 
Europe fhould remain infenfible to their 
danger, and not adopt efficacious meafures 
to flop the progrefs of ufurpation. With- 
out 



( 47 ) 

out^ England, all the powers of Europe 
would be unable to fruftrate the ambitious 
projeds of Bonaparte. England may, 
therefore, be confidered as the bulwark of 
the independence of Europe. Accordingly 
it is againft Great Britain, as the fole ob- 
ftacle to the completion of his views, that 
the Firft Conful of France harbours the moft 
profound and inveterate animofity; — an 
animofity which, notwithstanding his power 
of diffimulation, he could, even before the 
war, on no occafion conceal. 

The defire of glory (meaning always 
power) excepted, Bonaparte is perfectly 
mafter of all his paffions ; or, to fpeak per- 
haps more correftly, all paffion in him is 
centered in this alone. Hence he is pro- 
bably the moft complete mafter of diffimu- 
lation that has ever appeared on the great 
theatre of the world. It is, therefore, evident 
that no confidence can or ought to be placed 
in any arrangements, which he might infi- 
dioufly choofe to propofe, that would leave 

him 



( 48 ) 

h5m the power of returning proje&s, which 
he may for a moment relinquifh, but will 
never abandon. 

I will venture to affirm, and I believe it 
is not difficult to be proved, that there can 
be no fecurity for the independence of Eu- 
rope, until the French government are ob- 
liged to withdraw their forces, without the 
fmalleft qualification, within the territories 
of France, properly fo called. Let us con- 
fider, for a moment, what would be the 
confequence of a partial or incomplete ar- 
rangement. In lefs than ten years, Bona- 
parte would have the greateft part of the 
continent of Europe organized, after his 
manner, into a vaft politico- military ma- 
chine, unprecedented in the annals of the 
world. His vaffals and his fubjecls would 
become accuftomed to obedience, whereas at 
prefent they are afhamed and difgufted with 
the yoke. Having the ports of France, 
Spain, (for her independence is only delu- 
five,-) Italy, and Holland at his devotion, in 

lefs 



( 49 ) 
lefs than ten years he might form a navy- 
equal, or fuperior, to that of Great Britain.— 
And then — I will leave the reader to draw 
the confequences. 

In general I believe when a free nation 
is attacked by a defpot, determined to re- 
duce them to flavery, they have no alter-* 
native but that of fubmitting at once, or of 
determining to make no compromife, and 
never to fheath the fword until the defpot is 
reduced to a condition in which he is ren- 
dered incapable of ever again renewing his 
attack. This policy, oil the prefent occafion, 
feems to be the more neceffary to Great Bri- 
tain from that part of Bonaparte's character, 
of which I am now going to fpeak. It is 
well known, from a multitude of facts upori 
record *, that he is as completely deftitute 
of principle as it is poffible for man to be ; 

* I refer the reader to thofe dated by all writers 
on this fubje£l ; and indeed to the general chain of 
Occurrences in the hiftory of Bonaparte's life. 

E and 



( 5° ) 

and that, in his conduct, he regards no- 
thing but the means by which he may ac- 
eomplifh his ends. The facility with which 
he can change his religion ; the eafe with 
which he can promote a Jacobin, a Royalift, 
or a Republican, to office, according as it 
fuits his immediate views; the fong froid 
with which he could order the fick of his 
army to be poifoned, and unarmed Turks 
to be {hot *, are, or ought to be, fufficient 
proof, that, if he does not yet proceed to 
guillotine his enemies, like Robefpierre, it is 
only becaufe guillotining is now out of 
fafhion, and would be injurious to his pur- 
pofes. Thofe who know him moft inti- 
mately, having made a ftudy of his charac- 
ter, do not fcruple to predict that, if he 
fhould .ever find htmlelf in a fituation of ex- 
traordinary difficulty or danger, he would 

* Thefe fa£h I believe to be true, becaufe I know 
the character of the man to be fuch that there is no- 
thing which lie would fcruple to ac\ in order to ob- 
tain his ends. 

rival 



( 5r ) 

rival in cruelty any tyrant of ancient Or 
modern times. 

There is not a fhape, form, figure, or 
colour, which this Proteus-like conful is not 
ready to affume, in order to preferve and to 
increafe his power. His dexterity in neu- 
tralifing parties has been admirable. When 
the Jacobins get too ftrong, he infufes a 
certain portion of Royalifts into the mafs, 
and vice verfa -, as to republicans, he has 
himfelf, on fome occafion, affirmed that 
there are butyJi;^ in all the Republic, and 
that he is one of therm 

Finding that he gave too much umbrage 
even in France by the reftraint he had im- 
pofed on the liberty of the prefs, he now 
affe&s to become its prote&or. 

This convenient verfatility, or total ab- 

fence of principle, fhould teach us to expedt 

that, when his plan of invafion fails, he 

will not fcruple to fhift his ground, and 

E 2 again 



( fr ) 

again make profeffions of friendfhip. He 
will endeavour to form fome new amicable 
arrangement, even more deftructive to 
Great Britain than a ftate of war. He is 
dangerous as an enemy ; but ftill more 
dangerous as a friend. 

I have thus endeavoured to give an out* 
line of the character and views of Bona- 
parte, which appear to be of more eflential 
confequence to the public than the parti- 
culars of his birth, parentage, and educa- 
tion, &c. Thefe have already been exhi- 
bited in fuch various fhapes that I deem it 
fuperfluous to repeat them here. But I 
will quote two extracts from fome of his 
former fpeeches, which the reader may con- 
trail with his prefent conduct, as manifefted 
by the different anecdotes related in this 
work, and thus form an eftimate, from 
fads before his eyes, of the credit due to 
the profeffions of fuch a man, 

ExtraB 



( 53 ) 

Extracl of a Speech to the Council of An- 
cients, on the 18 th of Brum aire. 

" Let us avoid lofing the two things for 
which we have made fo many facrifices, 
liberty and equality" 

Another Extracl from the fame Speech. 

" But I reje&ed their overtures (thofe of 
Barras and Moulin), liberty being more dear 
to me than life^ and having no wi/h but that 
of ferving the French people* 

Order rejpe&ing Pancoucke and Moutardier. 

u Ulmprimeur au Biceire^ et Tauteur a 
Guienne" 

Although no one dare to offend the Firft 
Conful in print, there are thoufands of epi- 
grams conftantly in circulation againft him 
in manufcript. The French make ufe of 
epigrams as the Englifh of caricatures. One 
of the few which I remember at this mo- 
ment is as follows : 

E 3 Tot/jours 



( 54 ) 

toujour s de la meme fagon 
JLe mondefe laijfoit conduire ; 
Notre Conful put le Neron y 
Et la France le bas Empire. 

Some Particulars respecting Bo- 
naparte's Family. 

The original name of the family was 
Buonaparte, But there was another family 
in Corfica, who were lefs obfcure, and wrote 
their name Bonaparte. The fuperior dig- 
nity of this latter was faid to have been the 
Firft ConfuFs motive for omitting the u in 
the name. 

The family of Buonaparte have long been 
eftablifhed in the ifland of Corfica. His 
paternal anceftcrs are faid to have been ori- 
ginally of Sarzana in Italy, His father was 
a lawyer of no confiderable eminence in 
the town of Ajaccio, and became afterwards, 
through the intereft of Marefhall de Mar- 
bceuf, Attorney General. He died and was 
buried at IVlontpelier ? in the fouth of France, 

where 



( 55 ) 
where a Monument has lately been erecled 
to his memory, in compliment to the fon. 

Madame Buonaparte, the Mother. 

The maiden name of Madame Buona- 
parte, the mother, is Faefch. Her family 
is of the town of Bale, in Switzerland. 
When the Marefhall de Marbceuf was com- 
mander in chief of Corfica, Madame Bo- 
naparte is faid to have been his principal 
favourite, and to have even prefided at his 
table : Napoleon, Firft Conful of France, 
is generally thought to be the fruit of their 
intimacy, 

Madame Buonaparte, the mother, is ftill 
living, and refides at Paris. She is efteern- 
ed a woman of fenfe, and is much refpe&ed. 
The Firft Conful is faid to have formerly 
profited by the moderation of her counfels : 
but he has not latterly liftened fo much to 
her advice. Her brother, now Cardinal 
Faefch and i\rchbimop of Lyons, was, be- 
E 4 fore 



( 56 ) 

fore the French revolution, a prebendary 
or canon in one of the towns of Italy. 

The other branches of this family are : 

Joseph Bonaparte, 

The elder brother of the Firft Conful of 
France. Before the revolution he was 
wholly unknown. The military reputa-^ 
tion of the General firft brought him to the 
notice of the public. In the year 5 we find 
him admitted a deputy to the council of five 
hundred. In the year 6, he was employed 
as ambaflador to the court of Rome, where 
the Executive Dire&ory of the French re- 
public thought it neceflary, for political 
purpofes, to organize a plot. This plot 
fucceeded to their fatisfa&ion, and Jofeph 
was formally thanked for his conduct. It 
is however afierted that the death of Gene- 
ral Duphot, who was killed by the mob on 
this occafion, was owing to the tardinefs 
pr timidity of the ambaflador in putting a 

flop. 



( S7 ) 

flop to the infurredion, which he had 
raifed. 

Since the acceffion of his brother to the 
firft magiftracy, Jofeph has been fucceffively 
appointed counfellor of ftate, minifter pie-? 
nipotentiary for negoeiating the treaties of 
Luneville and of Amiens, and one of the 
great officers of the legion of honour, by 
which he is alfo entitled to a feat in the fe- 
n^te. Jofeph is not thought to poffefs 
great talents ; but his private character is 
refpedable. He has lately, to the prejudice 
of others, who had certainly better claims, 
been eleded a member of the National In- 
flitution. 

Upon this occafion, a member of feme 
independence ventured to addrefs the prefi- 
dent, humbly enquiring what Jofeph Bona- 
parte had done for the promotion of fcience 
or of literature, that he fhould be elected to 
fit among them ? The perfon who pro- 

pofed 



( 5§ ) 

pofed him (Cambaceres I believe) replied 
that be bad made the peace of Amiens. 

Lucien Bonaparte, 

The third brother (the general being the 
fecond) was, at the commencement of 
the revolution, an obfcure clerk in one 
of the military offices in the fouth of 
France, at a falary of 12 or 2800 livres a 
year. He was afterwards put on half-pay. 
Finding this pittance much too fmall for 
his wants, he applied to the government for 
an augmentation of his allowance ; and his 
petition to the Directory on this fubjecl is 
ilill extant. Under thefe circumftances, 
Lucien found it convenient to marry the 
daughter of a rich innkeeper, who con- 
fented to the match only becaufe it had 
been rendered neceffary to the reputation 
of his daughter. It is even added that 
Napoleon, before his campaigns in Italy, 
wifhed to have married one of Lucien's 

fitters* 



( 59 ) 

fifters-in-law ; but that his alliance was not 
acceptable either to the girl or to the pa- 
rents. 

On the ftrength of his brother's increaf- 
ing fame, Lucien, who was always bold in 
fpeaking, got a feat in the Council of Five 
Hundred, where he acted a diftinguifhed 
part. In the year 6, he moved for the 
liberty of keeping the (hops open on Sun- 
days, citing the example of Rome in fup- 
port of his opinion. In the year 7, he 
invited his colleagues to fwear to die for the 
conftitution of the year 3 ; and was gene- 
rally deemed a Jacobin and a freethinker. 
He has fince, however, taken a no lefs 
active part in deftroying the conftitution 
of the year 3, and in re-eftablifhing the 
ancient forms of the Roman catholic wor- 
ship. 

Since the eftablifhment of the confular 
government, Lucien has been fucceffively 
appointed minifter of the interior, arabaffa- 

dor 



( 6° ) 

dor to the court of Madrid, member of the 
tribunate and of the legion of honour, &c 
&c. He is deemed a man of confiderable 
talent ; but rapacious and prodigal. He 
and Jofeph were of great fervice to the ge- 
neral in the profecution of his views of 
aggrandifement. 

Louis Bonaparte, 

The fourth brother, after having gone 
through the regular fteps of promotion in 
the army, enjoys at prefent the rank of 
general. He has not been diftinguifhed in 
any particular manner during the revolu- 
tion ; but is regarded as an inoffenfive cha^ 
rafter, and is generally liked in the army. 
He married Mademoifelle Beauharnois, the 
daughter of Madame Bonaparte by her 
former hufband. 

Jerome Bonaparte, 

The ycungeft of the family, is a mid-? 
fhipman or Lieutenant in the navy : he is 

accufed 



( 6i ) 

accufed of giving himfelf in fociety the airs 
of an ill-bred young prince, 

Bonaparte's Sisters 

Are four in number. The eldeft is mar- 
ried to Citizen Bachocki, a fubaltern officer 
under the ancient government. He has no 
employment under the confular govern- 
ment, and is fcarcely ever fpoken of in 
Paris. The only talent for which he is 
remarkable is that of playing on the violin. 
He has an uncle of the lame name, who 
had the rank of colonel under the ancient 
government. Colonel Bachocki emigrated 
at the commencement of the revolution, 
and returned to Toulon with the Engliih, 
in the hope of re-entering, by their affift- 
ance, triumphantly into France, What is 
rather fingular, having fince returned to 
France, he has been appointed to a com- 
mand at Toulon; and, fuch was bis difguft 
at the condud: of the combined powers, 
when they took that place, he will pro- 
bably 



( 62 ) 

bably be one of the mod zealous to defend 
his poft, mould his old friends attempt a fi- 
milar expedition, 

Bonaparte's fecond fitter was married to 
General Le Clerc, late Captain-General of 
St. Domingo ; and is now married to Prince 
Borghefi, an Italian. The third is Madame 
Murat, wife of the commander in chief of 
the military force in the Italian Republic. 
And there is faid to be a fourth, although 
of this I am not fure, a girl of fourteen 
years of age, ftill unmarried. 

Madame Bonaparte. 

The maiden name of Madame Bonaparte* 
wife of the Firft Conful, is De la Pagerie* 
Her father was a chevalier de St. Louis f 
and a proprietor of plantations in the Weft 
Indies. Her uncle, Monf. de la Pagerie, 
was port captain ; and her family was ge- 
nerally efleemed in the three iflands of St. 
Domingo, Martinico, and Guadaloupe. She 

was 



( 63 ) 

was married when very young, againft her 
inclination, to Alexander Count de Beau- 
harnois, before the revolution major enfe* 
conde of infantry, Beauharnois was, in 
1789, appointed a deputy to the States 
General. In the early ftages of the revolu- 
tion, he was promoted to the rank of ge- 
neral in the army, and had feveral import- 
ant commands, in all of which he acquit- 
ted himfelf with credit. In 1 794, he gave 
in his difmiffion, on the ground of his being 
of a profcribed order; and was fhortly after- 
wards guillotined. In the fame year, Ma- 
dame Bonaparte married her prefent huf- 
band, in confequence of which he obtained 
the command of the army of Italy. She 
is ten years older than the Firft Conful. 

Madame Bonaparte had two children by 
her firft hufband, a fon and a daughter. 
The former is now a General in the French 
army ; and the latter is married to Louis 
Bonaparte, brother of the Firft Confuk 

Many 



( 64 ) 

Many fcandalous anecdotes are in cireip 
lation, refpe&ing the private morals of the 
family. But, as I am only their enemy 
upon public grounds, I will leave thefe 
matters to be recorded by other pens. 

London and Paris. 

In cuftoms, manners, amufements, drefs, 
buildings, and modes of life, every capital 
and every town differ from every other, 
according to the almoft infinite variety of 
circumftances which conftitute the eaufe of 
thofe differences. But there are none, 
perhaps, which occafion fo great and effen- 
tial a diverfity, as difference of topographi- 
cal fituation. Had London been built in 
an inland part of the kingdom, which no 
fhips or veffels could approach, it would 
not now have been diftinguifhed, above all 
cities in the world, for commerce, manu- 
factures, induftry of every kind, affluence, 
independence, and power. Had Paris been, 
built in a fituation acceffible to (hipping, it 
4 would 



( *s ) 

would have been a commercial, manufac- 
turing, induftrious, affluent, independent,and 
powerful city. The inland pofition of Paris, 
then, is in a great meafure the remote caufe 
of the little freedom, which has ever exifted 
in France, of the complete defpotifm which 
has reigned at all the periods of the revolu- 
tion, and of the abfolute tyranny that pre- 
vails at this moment. The French reproach 
the Engli(h with being a nation of (hop- 
keepers : but to fpeak juftly, London may 
be called a city of Warehoufes, and Paris a 
city of Shops. The inhabitants of Paris, who 
are in bufmefs, are almoft all fubjecl:, lefs or 
more, to the will of the reigning party of 
the day : thofe of London are not fubjecl: 
to the caprice of any man, or of any party. 

It is not my intention to enter into a 
minute detail of the circum fiances, arifing 
from topographical pofition, which have 
retarded, and muft long retard, the progrefs 
of that nation, of which Paris is the capital, 
toward freedom and independence. But I 
F am 



( 66 ) 

am perfuaded that they are fo numerous 
and fo powerful in their operation, that 
Ruflia, from the pofition of its capital, will 
in no long time precede France in the pre- 
eminent diftin&ions of freedom and happi- 
nefs. I know not whether I might not 
even mention the Ottoman Empire, were 
not the epidemic to which its capital is 
fubjedt fo great an obftacle to the progreft 
of population and improvement. Pruflia 
and Auftria I regard, and for the fame 
reafon, equally incapable with France of 
making any rapid progrefs toward amelio- 
rating the condition of their inhabitants. If 
Dantzig, or fome other fea-port town, were 
made the capital of Pruffia, and Triefte that 
of Auftria, I am certain that, with the ex- 
ception of the towns of Berlin and Vienna, 
a confiderable improvement would take 
place in confequence throughout their re- 
fpe&ive dominions. Thefe ideas, however f 
1 mention only in iiluftration of my argu- 
ment, without either recommending Or ex- 
pecting that they ihould ever be acted upon 

by 



( 6; ) 

by the two great powers of Germany. In 
no inftance does Peter the Great appear to 
me to deferve that epithet better than for 
having transferred the capital of his domi- 
nions to a fea-port town. See note {a,) 

I do not fay that without this circumftance, 
freedom cannot exift : for Switzerland was 
once free. But that part of commerce, 
which depends upon navigation, cannot be 
too highly prized ; as without it, whatever 
progrefs a nation may make in internal im- 
provement, their independence can never 
be fecure againft the attacks of a more 
powerful neighbour. But with a navy, if 
irretrievably vanquished, a free people - may 
even take refuge in the fea. The hiftory 
of the Venetians affords a ftriking example 
of what I mean. 

The Conciergerie. 

I had, by accident, an opportunity of vi- 

fitingthe interior of the prifons, and of be- 

F 2 coming 



( 68 ) 

coming intimately acquainted with the de- 
tails and fhades of defpotifm in France. A 

Mr. T r, whom I had formerly attended 

in a medical capacity in Germany, was, in 
the month of May or June 1802, arretted 
by the police, at an hotel in the Rue de la 
Loi 9 and carried to the Coneiergerie. He 
wrote me, a week or ten days after his 
arreft, that, being indifpofed, he wifh- 
ed I would come to fee him, and apply to 
the proper authorities for admiffion to the 
jail. 

Upon the receipt of his letter, I repaired 
to the Palais de Jujlice^ under which is the 
prifon of the Coneiergerie^ and was directed to 
the office of the Commiffary of the Govern- 
ment, whofe bufinefs it was to grant permif- 
fion to fee the prifoners. On making the re- 
queft, one of the clerks, to whom I addrefled 
myfelf for this purpofe, faid : " Comment , Mon r 
fieur, vous voulez voir ce feeler at ? How, Sir, 
you wifti to fee that rafcal ? Sir, I am perfuad- 
ed he is no more a rafcal than you ; other- 
wife 



( 69 ) 

wife I would not wifh to fee him. " But, 
Sir, he is accufed of coining.'' In my 
country Sir, we always confider an accufed 
man as innocent, until he is found guilty 
by the verdidl of a jury ; and even then we 
confider him as entitled to all the duties of 
humanity. " Sir, he has already had fo 
many people admitted to him that we can 
give no more permiflions." (This was not 
true ; for they only permitted his fervant 
to fee him, and that even feldom.j Tired 
of the impertinence of this clerk, I told him 
I muft fee the Commiflary of the Govern- 
ment himfelf. He fhewed me with reluc- 
tance into the Commiflary's cabinet, where 
I was received with fomewhat more polite- 
nefs. " This gentleman, Sir," laid he to 
the Commiflary, in a tone of voice which 
indicated clearly his own opinion of the 

matter, " requefts to fee that man T r." 

" Have you got your papers en regie" faid 
the Commiflary ? I have not got my paflport 
with me, I replied : but here is a paper, 
pulling a letter of the Minifter of the Inte- 
F 3 rior 



( 7° ) 
rior from my pocket, which will explain 
who I am. He perufed it, turned to the 
clerk, and defired that I might be imme-p 
diately admitted to fee Mr. T — — r. 

That gentleman informed me that he had 
been arretted for having lodged three hun- 
dred huis cFors, which were faid not to 
have been coined in France, with a banker 
in the Rue de Li/k, who denounced him to 
the police. He was detained three months 
in prifon, although he repeatedly folicited 
to be brought to trial. Proof was ready to 
be produced that the huis d'ors had been 
bought from a refpedable money-changer 
at Hamburg. They were full weight, and 
in every refpecl: as good as French huis 
ifors ; but they were not coined in France. 
At a time that thefe pieces were in great de- 
mand on the continent, fome merchants of 
Hamburg bought gold bars, and had them 
made into huis d'ors 9 which they fold at a 
confiderable profit. 

Had 



( 7* ) 

Had the law been equally applied to all, 
Mr. T — r would, in this cafe, have had 
no cattfe to complain. But a German, 
whofe name I now forget, having been de- 
nounced in a fimilar manner, his money 
was feized, without his being arretted. 
Cardinal Caprara, the Pope's legate, had 
alfo iffued fome money of the fame coinage^ 
without fuffering the leaft moleftation in his 
holy perfon. 

Mr. T — r after an imprifonment of more 
than three months, was releafed, and at the 
end of fome months more had his money 
returned, without, however, receiving any 
compenfation for the detention and lofs. 

At prefent the cafe is the fame with re- 
fpect to all the laws of the republic. They 
are executed with feverity, or not execut- 
ed at all, as the accufed is either deemed 
worthy the perfecution or protection of the 
government. Nor let the public of other 
countries allow themfelves to be deceived 
* F 4 by 



( 7* ) 

by the pompous declamations of the French 
Newfpapers. The more loudly they boaft 
of national virtue, juftice, honor, liberality, 
and good faith, the more it behoves us to 
expect the conftant violation of them all. 



The Queen of France's Cell. 

During my vifits to Mr. T — r I had oc- 
cafion to fee the miferable room, or rather 
cell, in which the Queen of France was con- 
fined before her death. It was converted 
to a more appropriate ufe, a guard-room. 

In viewing this vile apartment, fituated 
in the back part of the under -ground floor 
of the building, narrow, dark, difmal, and 
moift, it was impoflible not to contrail; the 
fate of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette f 
with that of the woman, who now occupies 
and pollutes her throne. It was impoflible 
not to reflect with regret on the abfurd and 
dangerous inconfiftency of the French peo- 
4 F'K 



( 73 ) 

pie, who had fcnt the former to the fcaf- 
fold, and were daily preferring addreffes to 
the latter in praife of her virtue : the 
virtue of Madame Bonaparte ! 



The Temple. 

Mr. de P., a Frenchman, advifed me 
ftrongly not to go to the conciergerie to fee 

Mr. T , obferving that I might become 

fufpe&ed, and get into a fcrape with the Go- 
vernment. It was not many weeks after- 
wards when Mr. de P. was put in the 

Temple, and detained for five or fix months, 
His only crime, as he informed me, was 
the having uttered fome incautious words at 
a private table, when heated with wine. 
Dining with a female relation .of Madame 
Bonaparte, fhe took occafion to obferve that 
a great deal of the abufe publiihed in the 
Englifli Newfpapers, came from returned 
Emigrants in Paris, and looking ftedfaftly at 

Mr. de P. repeated the obkrvation. To 

which 



( 74 ) 

which he thought proper to make this 
reply : Madam, 1 hope you do not think 
that any of it comes from me. I am not a 
Garret confpirator. If I had thirty thou- 
fand troops indeed- — Here he recolle&ed 
himfelf ; but it was too late. Next day he 
was arretted, and carried to the Temple, 



Declaration of Hostilities be- 
tween the English and French 
Journals. 

In the months of June, July, and Auguft 
1 802, a fpecies of warfare commenced be- 
tween the Journals of the two countries, 
which, to me, was a proof of the rifing 
fpirit of hoftility between the government of 
France and the Britifh nation. I fay the 
government of France, becaufe, in that un- 
happy country at prefent, the tone of the 
Journals indicates only the difpofition of 
the government, while that of the Britifh 
Newfpapers indicates the difpofition of the 

people 



( 75 ) 
people at large. The following obferva- 
tions on this fubje£t, fuppofed to be written 
by citizen Roederer, are curious, and per- 
haps deferve to be quoted ; " Why are the 
Englifh papers fo abufive againft the French? 
It is becaufe many Frenchmen, who cannot 
take that liberty in France without danger, 
may deliver their fentiments through the 
channel of the Englifh papers ; and becaufe 
it is an old cuftom in England to abufe all 
the world, The Newfpapers of that country 
abufe the greateft perfonages in the king- 
dom, and the crowned heads of Europe. 
What did they not fay againft Louis XVI., 
and particularly againft the queen, when in 
the zenith of their power ? 

c * The Englifh like to read abufe, as they 
like to fee caricatures. They muft have 
abufe, where we fhould have only an epi- 
gram, and a print where our delicacy would 
fcarcely permit an allufion. The Englifh 
do not, like the French, diflike abufe, for the 
fame reafori that they do not, like the Ita- 
lians, 



( 76 ) 
Hans, love mufic. Montefquieu, in his 
Efprit des Lois, fays : * I have feen the Eng- 
lish aud Italian operas The pieces and 
a&ors are the fame. But the fame mufic 
produces fo different an effect on the two 
nations, the one is fo calm, and the other 
fo tranfported, that it appears inconceivable.' 
The Englifh have no tafte; and that is the 
reafon why they are fo abufive. 

" Will any one pretend that a people, 
who drink beer, eat beef, warm themfelves 
with fca-coal, breath a heavy, moift, and 
cold atmofphere, pafs the half of their lives 
at fea, and fee women only in their parlors, 
can have fo delicate and lively a fentiment 
of decency as a people, who drink wine, 
eat bread, warm themfelves at a bright and 
gentle fire, breath a fharp and clear air, 
and daily receive leffons of tafte and 
decorum from a familiar and refpe&ful 
intercourfe with witty, decent, and frank 
women ? 

" But 



( 77 ) 

" But what fignifies the abufe of the 
Englifh papers ? They are fo dear, fo tire- 
fome, and fo ill-writtm, that they are 
efteemed only in England, and very little 
even there." 

On thefe profound remarks I fhall only 
make one obfervation. I hope we may 
ever continue to live in the fame coarfe 
manner, provided we thereby preferve a 
tafte, which the author of this article feems 
to have never known, or totally to have for- 
gotten, namely the tafte for freedom and 
independence. 

Popular Elections. 

About the fame period the election of 
Middlefex called forth a great deal of abufe 
from the French Journals ; not that they 
cared a ftraw which of the candidates fhould 
fucceed ; but they were very angry that no 
riots, no diforders, no maifacres were com- 
mitted, fo as to give the people of England 

a refem- 



( 78 ) 

a refemblaticc to the revolutionifts of France. 
When the French have reproached the Eng- 
lifh with felling their votes, I ufed to make 
this reply : The difference between the Eng- 
lifh and the French in that refpe<ft is, that 
while the former may fell their votes, if 
they choofe, the latter have no votes to felL 
I have often afiured them that they would 
find, in the fanciful theories of the Firft 
Conful, who feems to be much lefs folicitous 
that the form of government in France 
fhould be good, than that it fhould be pe- 
culiar ', but a poor fubftitute for popular re- 
prefentation, even as it exijls in England. 



Prohibition of English News- 
papers in France. 

About the middle of Auguft, the Firft 
Conful thought proper to prohibit the in- 
troduction of Englifli Newfpapers into 
France, and to feize all that had been al- 
ready introduced. To this general prohi- 
bition there was an exception in favour of 

Bell's 



( 79 ) 

Belts Weekly Meflenger, which I believe 
was received at all the reading rooms in 
Paris till nearly the commencement of the 
war. Whatever 1 might have thought of 
the principles of that paper, I was happy to 
remark the contraft of which it afforded a 
proof. The ftile in which it was conducted 
{hewed that, while in France no man dared 
to write in favour of any thing that was 
Englifti, in England people might write 
even in favour of Bonaparte* 



Charles Maurice Talleyrand, com- 
monly called Talleyrand Peri- 
gord. 

One of the moft remarkable circuftt- 
fiances, in the hiftory of this remarkable 
man, is his thinking it nece ffary, after hav- 
ing abandoned the church fo many years 
ago, to be now formally reftored to the 
laity, by a bull from his holinefs the Pope. 
The bull declares that this favour is granted 
in confederation of tbe many fer vices rendered 

by 



( 8° ) 

by citizen 'Talleyrand to the holy Roman Catholic 
church. In confequence he has been en- 
abled formally to efpoufe Madame le Grand, 
who has lived with him many years in ha- 
bits of intimacy. This lady, who has not 
generally been admired for her wit, lately 
made a repartee to the Firft Conful, which 
was much applauded in Paris. " J^efpere^ 
Madame^ faid Bonaparte upon feeing her 
for the firft time after her marriage, que la 
conduite de Madame Talleyrand fera outlier 
celle de Madame le Grand." I hope, Ma- 
dam, the conduct of Mrs. Ie Grand will 
be forgotten in that of Mrs. Talleyrand. 
To which flie replied : " Citoyen Premier 
Conful Je me ferai toujours un devoir de 
fuivre les pas de Madame Bonaparte?' 
Citizen Firft Conful, I fhall always think 
it my duty to follow the example of Ma- 
dame Bonaparte. See note (£). 

Talleyrand, and the French minifters in 

general, are treated by his Confular Majefty 

6 fometimes 



( Si ) 

fometimes with great indignity. The 
minifter of exterior relations has been ob- 
liged to get out of bed at midnight, during 
the prevalence of the influenza laft, year, 
with his face fwelled, his eyes watering and 
mouth ulcerated, and to repair to the con- 
fular palace, upon bufmefs of the mofi tri- 
vial nature. Expreffing my aftoniihnient 
that a man of fuch large fortune could be 
fo fervile, a very ingenious perfon of my 
acquaintance made the following apt obfer- 
vations : " You know, Sir, that if Talley- 
rand were difplaced by Bonaparte, he could 
not get another matter, in whofe fervice 
he could enjoy the fame ftation and influ- 
ence. But a porter, if he is turned out of 
his employment by you or me, can eafily 
get another rnafier. A porter is, therefore, 
more independent than Talleyrand ; and 
would fcom to jfubmit to the fame in- 
fults." 



Pan- 



( 82 ) 



Pancouke and Moutardier. 

Iti December 1802, an unfortunate au- 
thor, if I miftake not of the name of Pan- 
couke, refident at Verfailles^ having taken 
it in his head that he could give fome falu- 
tary leffons to the government, wrote a 
book which he entitled Mentor* He 
went with the manufcript to Moutar- 
dler^ an illiterate and rather covetous book- 
feller, but an induftrious and probably an 
honeft man* Moutardzer, without examin- 
ing very critically the contents, agreed to 
print the book ; and the prefs was accord- 
ingly fet to work. But the foreman, who 
it feems was more converfant in politics, if 
not in literature, than his mafter, ventured 
to make fome remonftrances againlt the 
printing, alledging that as Mentor had 
taken the liberty not only to advife^ but 
even to reprove the government, the under- 
taking might, under exifting circumftances, 

be 



( 8 3 ) 

be attended with fome danger. The book- 
feller, however, urged perhaps by his at- 
tachment to the liberty of the prefs, or his 
wifli of getting money, over-ruled thefe 
objections^ and defired the foreman to print 
on; obferving that he would take his 
chance of the confequences, and that the 
work would only fell the better for con- 
taining falutary animadverfions on the go- 
vernment. (This poor fellow probably had 
the misfortune, at fome period of his life, 
of having been in England, and hearing 
fome dangerous doctrines refpecting the 
liberty of the prefs> which he might have 
thought univerfally applicable.) The book 
was finiflied ; but the author, being unable to 
procure permiffion from the police to bring 
it to market, or money to pay for the print- 
ing, Montardier thought proper, as he had 
heard of feveral tranfportations for as trivial 
offences as thofe committed by Meiitor^ to 
lock the work up for the prefent in his 
ware-houfe. In the mean time, Boffange, 
Maffon and BefTon, alfo bookfellers, who 
G 2 had 



( 8 4 ) 

had a procefs depending againft Mouiar- 
dier y refpe&ing the dictionary of the French 
academy, and had perhaps other reafons for 
wifhing to ruin him 5 contrived to entice 
one of his workmen into their fervice, and 
to get, through his means, a copy of Mentor 
at the price of twenty- five louts d\rs. It was 
one of thofe copies, which in all printing- 
offices, I believe, are the cuftomary perqui- 
fite of the printers upon fimfhing a work, 
B. M. and B. fent this copy to the police 
with a denunciation againft Moutardier* 
He was arretted, and the affair laid before 
the Firft Conful, who gave this very fum- 
mary decifion : " Uimprimeur au Bicetre % 
et r auteur a Guianne" Let the printer be 
fent to the Bicetre, and the author to Cay- 
enne. 

The body of bookfellers, by their in- 
fluence, got Moutardier releafed ; but the 
foreman was fent to the Bicetre in his 
Head. What has been the fate of the 
author I have not been able to learn. 

Arc ham- 



( 8 5 ) 

Archambaud PeXUGORD, 

One of Talleyrand's brothers, has felt 
the weight of confular authority. He has 
been banifhed to the fouth of France, or to 
Italy, avowedly for having gone to Eng- 
land to receive arrears of pay due to him 
while in the Britifli fervice, and having too 
intimate a connection with the Britiih go- 
vernment 5 but in reality becatife he refufed 
his daughter in marriage to Lucien Bona- 
parte. His refufal was at fir ft made under 
the pretence of her being too young, and 
upon a fecond application, under the plea of 
her not choofing to marry a widower. The 
fame offer is faid to have been repeated to 
Archambaud, in exile, and to have been 
refufed. It is alfo generally reported that 
the hand of Mademoifelh de La Fayette has 
been refufed to Lucien. It is to be obferved 
that, as in France, marriages in general are 
only arrangements of convenience, in which 
G 3 the 



( 86 ) 

the heart has no (hare, the young ladies 
themfelves are very feldom applied to for 
their confent. That of the parents being 
once obtained, the match is concluded, 
whatever pangs it may coft the unfortunate 
victim, who is unwillingly dragged to the 
altar. If they refuk,Jhe muft refufe of courfe. 
In the great nation^ parental authority itfelf 
is of a defpotic hue, 

Lucien, although difappointed in his 
views of being connected with the ancient 
patrician families of France, has however 
made in other refpe&s an eligible match. 
He has, as I am informed from Paris, mar- 
ried a widow, who, in jewels and richnefs 
of apparel, vies with the fpoufe of the Firft 
Conful. I have not been able to learn her 
&ame. 



Sena- 



( 8 7 ) 



Senatoreries, Emperor of the 
Gauls, and Princes of the Em- 
pire. 

Towards the end of 1802, people con- 
verfant in the private hiftory of the politics 
of the Thuilleries, affirm that it was ferioufly 
in agitation that Bonaparte fhould aflame 
the title of Imperial or Confular Majejiy ; 
that there fhould be created fifteen Princes 
of the Empire, and fifty Senator eries. Of 
the princes of the empire eight were to 
have been chofen from among the members 
of the fenate, and eight from the family of 
the Firft Conful ; viz. his four brothers, 
Jofeph, Lucien, Louis and » Jerome ; his 
three brothers-in-law, Bachocki, Murat and 
Leclerc (then living), and his ftep-fon 
Beauharnois. But thefe proje&s, excepting 
the latter, were found by the fenate to be 
either premature or ridiculous, and were 
G 4- therefore. 



( 88 ) 

therefore abandoned. The Senatoreries 
however, a term rather harfh to be fure for 
the French language, but adopted in imita- 
tion of the ancient Commanderles^ have been 
illy eftablifhed, to the number of about 
fifty, yielding at leaft a revenue^ of fifty 
thcufand livres each. 

What a neat furn of patronage at one 
blow I 



The Moniteuiu 

In the Hamburgh Correfpondenten y a 
paper long e [teemed in Europe for its im- 
partiality and correclnefs, it was once plea- 
fantly obferved : " that they had received 
recent American newfpapers, containing in- 
telligence from St. Domingo, of a nature by 
no means favourable to the French ; but 
that they thought it unneceffary to publiih 
the particulars, as they had been long ago 
refuted by the Moniteur." It is a curious 

paper, 



( 8 9 ) 

paper, this fame Monkeur, and will be to 
pofterity a precious repofitory of informa- 
tion. It ought not to Jurprife us that a 
paper, which has the faculty of anticipating 
refutations of falfe intelligence, fhould claim 
the privilege of regulating, by proclama- 
tion, the deftinies of the prefent and of all 
future generations of mankind. It will not 
readily be forgotten how aufpicioufly it 
commenced the new year *, with deliver- 
ing leflbns of wifdom to the Britiih parlia- 
ment : " It would be a patriotic and fage 
law, which fhould enacl: that minifters going 
out of place, ihould not be allowed to fit 
in the Engli/h Parliament for fevcn years. 
Another law, not lei's wife, would be that 
every member, who fhould infult a people 
or a power in friend fhip, fhould be con- 
demned to two years filence ; when the 
tongue fins it fhould be punifhed." 

* See the Moniteur of the ift January 1803. 

la 



( 9° ) 

In the arrogant infult contained in the 
above paragraphs, coming dire&ly from 
the government, it is impoffible not to re- 
cognife fufficient caufe of hoftilities on the 
part of Great Britain. 

MoLITERNO AND BelPUCCEI. 

It was in the fame fpirit of arrogance 
and madnefs that two fubjecrs of foreign 
ftates were arretted at Calais, fent to the 
temple, and threatened to be brought to 
trial for tranfa&ions which did not pafs in 
the French territory. This doctrine, I 
prefnme, is only to be found in Citizen 
Racderer's new code of the Laws of Na- 
tions*. 

* The Journal de Paris, which is under the direc- 
tion of this worthy member of the French government, 
was at th?it time frequently filled with very ridiculous 
commentaries on the laws of nations. 

Legion 



( 9* ) 

Legion of Honour. 

It is a curious circumftance that no lift 
of the members of this body has ever been 
publifhed. The reafon affigned for that 
omifiion is, that the government were de- 
frrbus of concealing from the knowledge of 
the public that Moreau was not of the num- 
ber, that celebrated general having declined 
the proffered honour. It now feems that 
this inftitution is not to be exclufively de- 
voted to the reception of military worthies. 
All men, whom Bonaparte thinks honour^ 
able, may be raifed to that diftin&ion. The 
military members enrolled in it are all more 
than heroes ; for they have each performed 
impojfibilities % It is not then furprifing that 
a man of Moreau's modefty mould not have 
thought himfelf entitled to fo elevated a 
dignity. 

* See their feveral pretenfions or exploits recorded 
in the Moniteur, upon their refpeclive promotions. 

4 Inter- 



( 92 ) 

Interview of Bonaparte with the 
Swiss Deputies in January 1803, 

The Firft Confui had a conference with 
ten of the Swifs deputies, five of the ari- 
fiocratic, and five of the democratic party, 
which lafted for fevcn hours, and of whkh 
the particulars are curious. The four fena- 
tors charged with the affairs of that country 
were prefent ; a large table was placed, at 
the top of which fat Bonaparte 5 the four 
fenators were placed at the bottom, the five 
ariftocratic deputies w T ere ranged on one 
fide, and the five democratic ones on the 
other. This reprefentation was what, from 
its length pei -haps, as well as its cftentation, 
the French call an opera. The Gonful dif- 
cuffed the Cantonal ccnliuution with the 
Swifs deputies, with more than his ufual 
temper and complaifance. He did not even 
mamfeft muc'h impatience at being inter- 
rupted or contradicted by them, The- 

French 



( 93 ) 

French fenators he treated as ufual like 
valets, with the exception perhaps of 
Fouche', to whom he {hewed fome kind of 
compiaifance. When coffee or other re- 
freihrnents were required, he bid Barthelmy 
ring the bell, and as to Raderer he was in 
the true fpirit of a flave watching the looks 
of his mafter, in order to anticipate his 
wi(hes; Defmeiinier was the clerk of the 
meeting. None of the other confuls were 
prefent ; and it is a remarkable coincidence 
that about the fame period the language of 
the confuiar decrees was changed in the 
official paper. Inftead of the confuls cf the 
republic decree, &c." it is now " the go- 
vernment decrees, &c." On this occafion 
the Conful unfolded ideas of government 
which, although not inconfiftent with his or<^ 
dinary doctrines, are certainly very curious, 
cc What is the end of government?" faid he 
to the Swifs deputies. " It is, you know^ 
fplendor, power, glory (not a word of the 
happlnefs of the people) : a confederacy 
which can fupport a large force may obtain 

this 



( 94 ) 

this end ; but the confederacy of a fmall 
ftate like yours can not. Your fafety will 
confift: in your weaknefs ; in exciting the 
intereft (the pity he might have faid) of 
neighbouring Mates. Of thefe France alone 
has come to your affiftance. (It was an 
affiflance which they would readily have 
excufed.) How have the other ftates treated 
you ? Auftria took no intereil in your fate * 
England fupported your infurgents to pro- 
mote her own views, and afterwards left 
them to their fate. [It is remarkable, that 
in fpeaking of England on fuch occafions, 
Bonaparte always ufed, even at that time, 
the term enemy. 1 Had the government of 
that country prefented one note more, I 
declare that I mould have united you to 
France," [From this, although it is but 
an unmeaning boaft, it would appear that 
notes or memorials were prefented by the 
Britiih minifler on the fubjecT: of Switzer- 
land.] 

Bonaparte 



( 95 ) 

Bonaparte then addreffed himfelf to the 
fo-called democratic and ariftocratic depu- 
ties feparately, the former he reproached 
with cowardice in not having defended 
Berne to the laft extremity againft the in- 
surgents. [It was Citizen Verninac, the 
French ambaflador, who counfelled and 
decided the capitulation. But it is eafy to 
appear confiftent when there is no oppofi- 
tion made.] To the ariftocratic fide, as the 
French term them, he addrefled himfelf ftill 
more rudely. " Your great war-horfe" 
fays he, " is the bombardment of Zurich. 
But don't you think that if any of my de- 
partments were to rife in infurre&ion 
againft me, I would march an armed force 
to reprefs them ? And did you not your- 
felves bombard Fribourg ?" Such was the 
fuhftance of the extraordinary difcourfe held 
at this extraordinary meeting. 



Chenier. 



( 96 ) 

Chenier. 

The poet Chenier has lately been re-in- 
troduced upon the public ftage. Refpedting 
the particulars of his appointment, feveral 
ftatenvettts have been in circulation. The 
following feems to be of the mod authen- 
tic : 

Regnaud (de St. yean a" Angely ), fre- 
quently employed as orator of the govern- 
ment upci public cccafions, had the honour 
of a i Ece on this. He was deputed 

to found the inclinations of Chenier. Find- 
ing that they were of a nature not to reject 
cultivation, he mace his report accordingly; 
upon which Lucien and Jofeph Bonaparte 
paid the poet a vifit, and the whole of the 
private* arrangement was completed. The 
appointment in public was thus conducted. 
Cambaceres presented to the Firft Conful a 
lift of ten candidates for the vacant office in 

the 



( 97 ) 

the department of public inftruclion. He 
looked it over and faid : " What ! I do not 
fee the name of any man of genius in this 
lift: you have omitted the very name 
which fhould be at the head ; you have 
omitted Chenier." How, Citizen Firft 
Conful, Chenier is one of your enemies. 
" Foh ! I do not wifti to hear any one 
fpeak of my enemies. Put down the name 
of Chenier for the place, and put your ten 
blockheads in your pocket." Portallis, who 
was alfo prefent, made fome remonftrance, 
quoting a paffage from Chenier' s works, 
which he thought would be difpleafing to 
the Firft Conful. " In that paffage," faid 
he, " there is a great deal of genius. I am 
but the more confirmed in my determina- 
tion." And Chenier was appointed. 

The Firft Conful is gifted with an ex- 
cellent memory. When any of his 
counfellors of ftate, or other dependants, 
read him a paffage bearing a different or 
oppofite interpretation from fome paffage 
H of 



( 9« ) 

of theirs, which he recolle&s to have upon 
any former occafion heard, he (lops him, 
faying, " that is very different from what 
you faid on fuch an occafion ; you are a 
man of bad faith 5" and he turns his back 
upon him. 

Bonaparte has that happy verfatility 3 
which enables him with equal Jang froid to 
turn his back or his face to any one, ac- 
cording as is moft ufeful to obtain his im- 
mediate obje&s. We have proofs of this in 
his prefent, and his former conduct to the 
Abbe / Sieyes ; but what feems moft fur- 
prifing is, that men of celebrity, like Sieyes 3 
mould not have fufficient dignity of foul to 
refufe appearing fo palpably as tools of the 
ufurper. 



Special Tribunals. — Juries and 
Faux. 

The adminiftration of juftice in France 
is fo conducted that the innocent can be 

condemned, 



( 99 ) 

condemned, and the guilty acquitted, ac- 
cording to the pleafure of the government. 
Among the crimes which at prefent attract 
moft of their attention, is that which is 
termed faux; and which alone, confidering 
all the cafes it comprehends, as well as the 
mode of trial adopted, puts a great propor- 
tion of the French nation at the entire dif- 
pofal of the government. The offenders 
are called fauffaires ; every fpecies of fab- 
rication, from coining of money to a fimple 
error in account, comes under the denomi- 
nation of faux, A commiflary general of 
the army, in whofe accounts an error of 
four fous is difcovered, may be tried for this 
offence. The accufed are tried, without a 
jury, by the judges of the fpecial tribunal ; 
and if they happen to be obnoxious to the 
government, we may guefs what, in the 
prefent ftate of things, is likely to be their 
fate. The evils occafioned by the extenfive 
fignification given to this term in France, 
are almoft incredible. A poor woman lately 
tried for the murder of a man who died a 
H 2 natural 



( ICO ) 

natural death on his bed, and acquitted, had 
been obliged, in order to maintain herfelf 
during a fix months' confinement in prifon, 
to put her watch in pledge. Afhamed to 
appear under her own name, fhe employed 
one of her neighbours to execute this cora- 
rniffion under a feigned one. This cir- 
cumftance appearing upon her trial, the 
neighbour, who had put the watch in pawn 
under an affumed name, was committed to 
prifon in order to be tried for a faux y and 
the poor woman who had been already fix 
months in prifon, and acquitted on the 
original charge, was recommitted as an 
accomplice. 

When a commiffary, having demands to 
a large amount againfl: the government, 
. prefents his accounts, the flighteft error, or 
any falfe document, of which he may have 
been innocent or ignorant, being found, he 
is brought to trial before the judges of the 
fpecial tribunal. His being found guilty, 
liquidates all his demands upon govern- 
ment i 



( ioi ) 

ment ; and, in that cafe, any property of 
which he may be poflefled is confifcated to 
pay the charges of the profecution ; which 
charges are at the difcretion of the judges ; 
and thefe judges receive a ftipend of only 
4000 livres a-year each (lefs than 200/. 
Sterling), with pens, ink and paper, from 
the government ; for which reafon the 
people fay that the committee revolution aire 
was inftituted by the government of Ro- 
befpierre pour lattre de la monnoie (to coin 
money), but that the tribunal fpecial has 
been inftituted by the government of Bona- 
parte pear pay erfes dettes (to pay their debts). 

As an inftance of the extraordinary 
charges of this tribunal, we may cite the 
caufe of Mr. L. He was convi&ed .of a 
faux, which was only an error of 40oHvres 
in an- account of feveral millions. Befide 
being condemned to be publicly expofed, 
and to work eight years in the galleys, the 
expence of his procefs amounted to the 
H 3 very 



( 102 ) 

very moderate fum of twenty-five thoufand 
livres. 



A gentleman, Mr. B. has a law-fuit with 
one of the judges of this tribunal for a pro- 
perty valued at 250,000 livres. An alledged 
faux is trumped up againft him ; he is 
thrown into prifon, and there detained until 
a decifion is pafled againft him. During 
the whole term of the procefs, Mr. B. was 
not allowed to have communication with 
any perfon. But what are the members 
of this tribunal, who acT: at once in the 
three characters, of grand jury, petty jury, 
and judges ? Citizen Hemer, the prefident, 
was, prior to the revolution, an attorney, 
and fince a decided jacobin. Thuriot, 
fecond in command, prefided a jacobin 
club, when the death of the king was voted; 
he was alfo the voluntary defender of the 
Septembrifers. It will fcarcely be necef- 
fary to fay more in order to eftablifh, the 
reputation of the members of this tribunal. 

Thefe 



( 193 ) 
Thefe are fads, which it would be unge- 
nerous to bring to the recollection of 
the public, did not the fame perfon- 
ages perfift in the fame unprincipled 
line of conduct under every fucceeding 
government, The fyftern of terror, al- 
though of a different kind, is now as com- 
plete as it was in the time of Robefpierre. 
The barrifters, or defenfeurs officielles % are 
afraid to fpeak ftrenuoufly in defence of 
their clients before the judges of this awful 
tribunal, or indeed to fpeak at all without 
offering an apology for the liberty which 
they prefume to take. The following may 
ferve as a fpecimen of their manner. Mr. 
C.j defenfeur officielle^ when lately pleading 
in behalf of Mr. Q^ coufm-german of the 
celebrated Mirabeau, thus addreffed the tri- 
bunal : " Citizens, I have not the honour of 
knowing my client, nor do I poffefs his 
confidence. I undertake his defence from 
pure humanity for his family." (Note well 
that this gentleman's humanity had been 
H 4 jnvi- 



( 104 ) 

invigorated by five-and-twenty louis dors 
of his client's money in the morning.) 

The matters which are allowed to be 
tried before juries are now very few; they 
had the impudence to acquit all perions 
whofe guilt was not clearly proved. This 
noble inftitudon which, among all people of 
common fenfe, is fo highly prized, it is ex- 
pected will fhortly be abolifhed throughout 
the republic. Indeed, from the manner in 
which trials are carried on, even in cafes in 
which juries are ftill permitted, it does not 
much fignify whether they do or do not 
continue to exift. Mr. R. for inftance, 
having been confined in prifon for feveral- 
months, at laft by importunity obtained a 
trial ; three of the witneffes had already 
been examined, when one of the judges de- 
manded the proces verbal^ alias a copy of 
the examinations which had been drawn up 
by the magifurate who committed him. 
This piece, which had been in the poffef- 

fion 



( io5 ) 

iion of the judges themfelves, and for which 
they alone were accountable, was miffing ; 
upon which all proceedings were laid afide, 
and Mr. R. remanded to prifon, until it 
fhould pleafe the judges to recommence his 
trial. The fact is, that there was nothing 
againfl: this gentleman for which he could 
be condemned ; but he had the misfortune 
to be obnoxious to the government, which 
now-a-days never fails to enfure one a per- 
manent lodging in the prifon of France. 

We know not what may have been the 
number of prifoners ufually detained in the 
jails of Paris during the tyranny of Robe- 
fpierre; but their a&ual number is faid to ex- 
ceed fifteen thoufand. Of thefea confiderable 
portion is compofed of females, many of 
them young women under twenty years of 
age, condemned for petty offences, to a 
confinement of feveral years. 

The cruelty with which condemned per- 
forms are treated, when we confider that 

France 



( io6 ) 

France is a country reputed civilized, is 
aftoniihing, and almoft incredible. Such is 
the dread which prifoners have of this 
ordeal, that numbers of them attempt to 
deftroy themfelves, after fentence of con- 
demnation is paffed. A poor woman, lately 
condemned to eight years hard labour for a 
faux, ftabbed herfelf feveral times in the 
breafl the day on which fhe was ordered to 
be expofed in the pillory, a preliminary 
part of the punifhment. Notwithstanding 
the exhaufted ftate in which her wounds 
had left her, fhe was put into a cart (for 
fhe was not able to walk, as the prifoners 
are always obliged to do), and conveyed to 
the place of expofition. Before the fpecial 
tribunal, it is not neceffary to bring proofs 
of a prifoner's guilt: HE rauft bring proofs of 
his innocence. 

The prefent policy of the French go- 
vernment is to reftore the feverity of 
punifhments, which had been laid afide 
during the revolution. When it was de- 
bated 



( io 7 ) 

bated in council whether the puniihrnent 
of marking the moulder, as in the reign of 
Louis XVI., fhould be reftored, Bonaparte 
is faid to have propofed that the mark 
fhould be upon the cheek. We mould then 
fee every man's enmity to the confular go- 
vernment imprinted in his face. It was 
likewife propofed, by the fame authority, to 
fubftitute the halter for the guillotine, the 
latter being thought too eafy a death. But 
finding thefe fuggeftions generally difap- 
proved, he did not urge them. 

Before the revolution, the galley flaves 
were chained together by the ankle. It 
remained for confular prowefs to chain 
them by the neck. 

JV". B, The fads above ftated under the 
head of" Special Tribunals," &c. were com- 
municated to me by a gentleman at Paris, 
who had an opportunity of colle&ing them 
from the different perfons concerned, or 
from their friends. As it might be impro- 
per 



( m ) 

per to mention his name in this place, the 
reader will pleafe to take them anonymoufiy, 
and to give them what degree of credit he 
thinks they deferve. 



Slights shewn to the British 
Ambassador, 

Every one knows the arrogant manner in 
which Bonaparte behaved to Lord Whit- 
worth previous to his quitting France, and 
the great propriety of that nobleman's con- 
duel on the occafion, The courtiers, and 
feveral members of the diplomatic corps, it 
would feem, thought it neceffary to imitate 
the conduct of their fuperior. The follow- 
ing anecdotes I give as I heard them, with- 
out, however, vouching for their accuracy. 
Some time in the month of February 1803, 
a large company being invited to Camba- 
ceres's, among whom were the foreign 
ambaffadors, fome members of the diplo- 
matic body, who had arrived before Lord 

Whit- 



( i°9 ) 

Whitworth, after paying their compliments 
to the Second Conful, walked into the ad- 
joining rooms or difappeared. Lord W. 
upon his arrival, paid his compliments to 
Cambaceres alfo ; but looking round, and 
feeing nobody, he enquired if he was the 
only one arrived ? The other gentlemen, 
replied Cambaceres, have paiTed into the 
next room. Lord W. walked into the ad- 
joining apartments ; but finding nobody, 
went away. 

Shortly afterwards the fame farce, it is 
faid, was again played at a private ball. 

Thefe anecdotes are, at firft view, trivial 
in themfeJves. But, if corred, they mark 
the degree of obfequioufnefs by which the 
reprefentatives of foreign nations have of 
late condefcended to degrade themfelves at 
the court of the ufurper of France. 



Madame 



no 



Madame Bonaparte's Aunt. 

Upon the death of an aunt, it was very 
gravely deliberated by Madame Bonaparte 
and her council whether fhe fhould go into 
mourning. The Conful fpeedily decided 
the queftion : " No ?" faid he, " if you go 
into mourning, 1 muft go into mourning ; 
and if / go into mourning, all the world 
muft go into mourning. " 



Departure of Lord Whitworth 
from Paris. Decree constitut- 
ing the English Travellers in 
France Prisoners of War. 

In May 1803, the negotiations between 
the two countries were brought to a clofe, 
and the Britifh ambaffador, Lord Whit- 
worth, left Paris. All Britifh fubje&s ought, 
perhaps, in prudence to have departed at 

the 



( 1" ) 

the lame time. But fome were detained by 
bufinefs, and fome by pleafure; and none 
of them probably dreamt of meeting after- 
wards with any impediment to their de- 
parture. 

For weeks before Lord Whitworth left 
Paris, all the journals were daily exclaim- 
ing : " Why do the Englifh quit France ? 
What are they afraid of? Can they not 
truft themfelves to the loyalty of the French 
government, although their ambaffador is 
going away ?" This doctrine was preached 
with fuch zeal by the journals, all ooto- 
rloufiy at the difpofition of the government, 
that it ought of itfelf to have created an 
alarm ; but I am forry and aihamed to 
confefs that, notwithstanding my thorough 
conviction of the habitual treachery of the 
parties, I allowed myfelf, like many others, 
to be molt completely deceived. Fortu- 
nately, however, a great many of the Eng- 
Hih had gone away : and the Firft Conful 
found himfelf fo difappointed in the num- 
bers 



( u* ) 
bers that remained, that I queftion much 
whether, if he had known it, he would 
have incurred the odium of their detention. 

Be that as it may, on the 2 2d of May, ten 
days after the departure of Lord Whit- 
worth from Paris, appeared the following 
decree : 

" All the Englifh enrolled in the militia 
between the age of eighteen and fixty, or 
who hold commiffions from his Britannic 
Majefty, now in France, fliall be imme- 
diately conftituted prifoners of war, to an- 
fwer for the citizens of the republic, who 
may have been detained, or made prifoners, 
by the veffels or fubjeds of his Britannic 
Maiefty before the declaration of war." 

Paris, id Praireal, year xi, 
22a 1 May 1803. 

This decree nominally only compre- 
hended perfons holding commiffions in the 
3 army 



( "3 ) 

array and navy, or capable of being enroll 
led in the Militia ; i. e. males from, eighteen 
to fixty years of age ; for this was the co- 
louring which the French government 
wifhed might be given to it in other coun- 
tries *i But in reality it was extended to 
perfons of all defcriptions, old and young, 
male and female. 

It Was at firft pretended that women and 
children were exempted from the meafure. 
Againft this I can only ftate the evidence of 
fads. Lady Elgin, upon applying for a 
pafTport, was refufed, and afterwards many 
other ladies. I have myfelf feen boys of 
ten and twelve years of age fent from one 



* In (peaking of the decrees and other contents of 
the French journals, let trie here give a general caution 
to the reader. I can affure him that he will be much 
nearer the truth, if he confiders them as the expreffion 
of what the French government wifli mould be under- 
flood in other countries to be their orders or intentions, 
than if he understands them literally as conveying 
matters of fa&. 



public 



( "4 ) 

public office to another, and refufed pafT- 
ports, becaufe they had not written certi- 
ficates of their ages* It was the firft inftance 
I ever faw of ocular demonftration being 
thought infufficient to prove that an infant 
is not a boy, or that a boy is not a man. 
Had the exemption even been general and 
effe&ive, it could have been of little or no 
life ; for wives would not have chofen to 
leave their hufbands, nor parents to part 
with their children. 

The prifoners in general were fent to 
Fontaine Bleau, Valenciennes, Melun, Nif- 
mes, Verdun, Challons, and other places. 
They were allowed a certain range to walk 
in, upon giving their parole not to go away* 
In this fituation, thofe who had the means 
of fubfiftence were not ill off. But, by 
being removed from Paris, and the other 
places of their ufual refidence, to the general 
depots, thofe, who had to derive their 
means of fubfiftence from labour, were 
reduced to the utmoft diftrefs, and left to 

ftarve, 



( »J ) 

ft&rve, forae of them with numerous fa- 
milies of children. 

Did the French government afford any 
fuccour to fuch of thefe men as had actually 
eftabiiflied their refidence in France? Not 
a fous. But what cares Bonaparte, who 
affecls to do every thing en grande, for the 
ftarvation of a few thoufand individuals ? 
I am happy to learn, fince my arrival in 
this country, that the Englim government, 
in confequence of the reprefentations of 
Mr. Rohfon^ have humanely fent two thou- 
fand pounds for the relief of thefe unfor- 
tunate people : and this fum will, no doubt, 
be farther increafed, as otherwife it cannot 
afford them efFe&ual afliftance. But a pri- 
vate fubfcription, if properly conduced, 
would perhaps be the bed manner of pro- 
curing funds adequate to their wants. Their 
cafe, as men in whofe perfons the laws of na- 
tions and the rights of hofpitality have been 
grofsly and bafely violated, ought power- 
fully to intereft the feelings not only of the 
1 2 Englifh 



( "6 ) 

Eriglifli public, but of the people and govern** 
ments of other countries, in their favour. It 
is a cafe, which comes home to them all. 
The Auftrians, Ruffians and Pruffians, refi~ 
dent in France, may to-morrow, if it fuits 
the whim of the tyrant, be placed in the 
fame fituation. If a committee of refpect- 
able gentlemen were to undertake this tafk, 
their efforts, I am perfuaded, would be at- 
tended with the moft complete fuccefs, and 
in the fatisfacYion, which would refult from 
utility, they would find an abundant re- 
ward- 

The execution of this execrable decree 
was conducted in the moft loofe and incon- 
fiderate manner. Thofe were fent to one 
depot, who ought to have been fent to ano- 
ther> as having friends or acquaintances in 
the latter; thofe were fent away from 
their places of refidence, who, had there 
been any rational fyftem, would have been 
allowed to remain, and thofe were allowed 
to remain who would have been fent away. 

Every 



( "7 ) 

Every thing depended upon chance, whim, 
and caprice. There was a total abfence of 
that polite confideration, which ufed to dif- 
tinguifh the French people, even while they 
were committing ads of injuftice. Lord 
Elgin was treated with marked incivility ; 
and a degree of harfhnefs, unprecedented 
excepting in the reign of terror, pervaded 
the whole proceedings. In remote parts, 
where the conftituted authorities think they 
cannot ad too vigoroufiy in the fpirit of 
their fuperiors, there was flill more fe verity 
and lefs confideration. I cannot help ob- 
ferving, that while General Junot was amu- 
fing himfelf, keeping Englimmen of difxinc- 
tion dancing attendance upon him, from 
day to day, and from week to week, I have 
feen him receive common foldiers with 
affability, and haften, not fimply to comply 
with, but even to anticipate, their wiihes. 
This may be policy, but it certainly is not 
manners. 

I 3 I never 



( »« ) 

I never met with even a Frenchman, 
who attempted to juftify this decree of Bo- 
naparte upon any other grounds than that 
of retaliation. It is in violence and inde- 
cency, in my opinion, fecond to none, ex- 
cepting that of Robefpierre for giving no 
quarter to the Englifli. With forrow and 
abhorrence I read, on the continent, that 
fome perfons on this fide the water had 
gravely debated the quefiion : u Whether 
quarter {hould not be refufed to the French 
in the event of their invading this country? 3 ' 
There are fome queftions that do not, in my 
opinion, admit of a debate ; and this is cer- 
tainly one of them. What I Is there a man 
exifting, of a truly Englifli mind, who can 
think that, in order to repel all the power 
of France, or even all the power of Europe, 
it can be any wife neceflary for us to reforfc 
to fuch unufual, barbarous and difgraceful 
means of warfare ? All fuch proportions, in 
my opinion, indicate a poornefs of fpirit, and 
a. want of jufl confidence in our ftrength. 

But, 



( "9 ) 

But, to return from this digreffion, the 
French themfelves only attempt to palliate 
the enormity of this decree, by alledging that 
it is a retaliation for the detention of the 
fliips and crews belonging to France, which 
were flopped in England before the decla- 
ration of hoftilities. 

Without entering into the merits or de- 
merits of this practice generally, it is very 
evident that the two meafures, as applied to 
the prefent circumftances, have no kind of 
fimilarity. In England no falfe expecta- 
tions of protection were held out, either by 
the government or the public, to the cap- 
tains or crews of the fhips in the Englifh 
harbours. They knew, or ought to have 
known, that it is the cuftom in England 
(right or wrong is not here the queftion), 
as foon as the government have determined 
on war, to lay an embargo on all veflels be- 
longing to the enemy, in their ports. 
They ought to have gone away in time. 
Farther, the detention of fhips and crews is 
1 4 attended 



( {»? ) 

attended with fome advantage, in as far as 
U is a transfer of property, and of the means 
of warfare. 

The detention of the Englifh travellers in 
France, as prisoners of war, is, on the con- 
trary, not only the groffeft violation of the 
laws of nations, and the rights of hofpitality, 
that has ever been committed in any country 
pretending to civilization ; but it had the 
farther peculiarity of having been accom- 
panied or preceded by circumftances of the 
vileft treachery and deceit. The Parifian 
journals, which dared not to have done it 
without the pofttive orders of the govern- 
ment, took the greateft pains to perfuade 
the Englilh, not to go away, giving them 
every poflible encouragement to expect a 
continuance of hofpitality and protection. 
If they had attained their object of inducing 
the bulk of the Englifh to {lay, they would 
no doubt have afterwards exulted in a trait, 
of which almofi any other nation would 
have been afhamed, of treachery fo confum- 
4 mate* 



( m ) 

mate. In fhort this unique decree had no 
one circumftance of advantage to the per 
petrators to recommend it; and, as is now 
very generally fuppofed, could have had no 
motive or object, but the gratification of 
private or perfonal refentments. 

By a late order, all the perfons fo confti- 
tuted priibners, who remain in France, have 
been transferred to Verdun and Challons, 
fome fay into the citadels of thefe places. 
They were obliged to maintain, and to pay 
half a crown a day to each of the dragoons 
who accompanied them on the journey. 
Even clerks in counting hpufes have not 
been fpared. 

The number of Englifh travellers de- 
tained in France, there is reafon to believe, 
never exceeded a thoufand, although the 
French journals exulted in having entrap- 
ped fix or eight thoufand of them. The 
following lift contains fuch names as have 
cpme to my knowledge. They amount to 

nearly 



( 122 ) 

nearly two hundred ; and I do not believe 
that as many more could be collected, un- 
lefs we were to include all the tradefmen 
who were already eftablifhed in France. 



Names of English Travellers, who 
have been detuned in france^ 
as Prisoners of War. 

The Marquis and Marchionefs of Tweedale, 
The Earl of Elgin and Lady Elgin, 
The Earl of Yarmouth, 
Lord and Lady Mountcafhel and family* 
Sir J. Morihed, 
Sir J.imes Craufurd, 
Sir James De Bath, 
Sir Thomas Clavtring, 
Sir Thomas Wallace, 
Hon, M. and Mrs. Annefley> 
Hon. Lieut. Col. Annefley, 
Hon. G. Hamilton, Ton of Lord Boyne* 
Hon J. Blaquiere, foil of Lord de Bla- 
quiere, 

Hon* 



( **3 ) 

Hon, Mr. Eardley, 

Hon. Henry Tufton, 1 brothers to Lord 

Hon. Edward Tufton, 3 Thanet. 

Colonel Abercromby a 

Colonel Moore, 

Colonel Macleod, 

Colonel Stack, 

Lieut. Col. Tindale, Life-Guards, 

Lieut. Col. Bradford, 

Lieut. Col. and Mrs. Cope, 

Major Burke, 

Major and Mifs Ramfay, 

Captain Levefon Gower, Lieutenants Lam-> 

bert and Douglas, and other officers of 

his Majefty's fhip Shannon *, 
Captain Brenton, Hon, Mr. Walpole, Mr. 

Cutler and Mr. Dacre, of his Majefty's 

fhip Minerva *, 
Captains Gary and Bannatyne, 



* Thefe (hips were not taken in any engagement 
by the enemy ; they fell a prey to them by having had 
the misfortune of being firft vanquifhed by the ele- 
ments. 



Captains 



( "4 ) 

Captains Gerard and Combe, of the ma- 
rines, 
Captain Congreve, 
Captain Owens, 
Captain Power, 

Lieut. Prefcott, R. N. and Mrs. Prefcott, 
Lieutenants Brown and Nanney, R. N. 
Lieut. George, 

Rev. Robert Wolfe and Mrs. Wolfe, 
Rev. Mr. White of Lancafter, 
Rev. Dr. Smith, 
Dr. May, 
Dr. David, 
Dr. Lloyd, 

Dr. and Mrs. Hewetfon, 
Dr, Macnabb, 
Dr. Ryan, 

Mr. and Mrs. Olive, 
Mr. and Mrs. Campbell of Jamaica, 
Mr. Mrs. and Mifs Forbes, 
Mr. Mrs. and Mifs Sibbald, 
Mr. Mrs. and Mifs Tuthill, 
Mr. and Mrs* Cockburn, 
Mr. Nichols and family^ 

Mr. 



( **$ ) 

Mr. and Mrs. Giffard, 

Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher, 

Mr. Mrs. and Mifs Fiott, 

Mr. and Mrs. Aufrere, 

Mr. and Mrs. Leigh, 

Mr. and Mrs. Stevenfon, 

Mr. and Mrs. Ritfo, 

Mr. and Mrs. Dare, 

Mr. and Mrs. Power, 

Mr. and Mrs. Greathead, 

Mr. and Mrs. Kennet, 

Mrs. Douglas, 

Mrs. Palmer, 

Mr. and Mrs. Davies, 

Mr. and Mrs. Boyd and family, 

Mr. Sturt, M. P. 

Mr. Knox, 

Mr. Eft wick, 

Mr. Duff, 

Mr. Concannon, 

Mr. Blackmore, 

Mr. Green, 

Mr, Light, 

Mr. Goodman, 

Mr. 



C 126 ) 

Mr. Warwick, 

Mr. Ainfley, 

Mr. Le Mefurier, 

Mr. Gould, 

Mr. Halpin, 

Mr. Pigott, 

Mr. Rowley, 

Mr. Otto, 

Mr. Wilbraham, 

Mr. Dale, 

Mr. Sharpe, 

Mr. Gary, 

Mr. Trevor, 

Mr. Holland, fen. and juru 

Mr. Balgrove, fen. and jun. 

Mr. Lawrence, fen. and jun* 

Mr. Cupans, 

Mr. Pinckerton, 

Mr. Manning, 

Mr. May, 

Mr. Later, 

Mr. Fagen, 

Mr. MTaggart, 

Mr. Garlias, 

Mr. 



{ "7 ) 

Mr. Le Souef, 

Mr. Hautenville, 

Mr. Colombine, 

Mr. De Jerfey, 

Mr. Wilmot, 

Mr. Prieftiey, 

Mr. Wigney, 

Mr. Tilt, 

Mr. Taylor, 

Mr. Chetham, 

Mr. Garland, 

Mr. Fulk, 

Mr. Devenifli, 

Mr. Wetherdown, 

Mr. Roche, 

Mr. Brown, fen. and jun* 

Mr. Ryan, 

Mr. Benfield, 

Mr. Ridman, 

Mr. Efte, 

Mr. R. Campbell, 

Mr. Mountney, 

Mr. Smith, 

Mr. Hurry, 

Mr, 



< "8 ) 

Mr. Benfon^ 
Mr. Pringle. 
Mr. Whalley, 

The following Perfons obtained permit 
fion to return to England : 

Dowager Marchionnefs of Donegal, 

Lady Ancram, 

Two Mifs Godfreys 

R. B. Robfon Efq. 

James Green Efq. 

Mr. Alexander Gerard, arid 

Mr, William Jackfon. 



Th$ Argus, or London reviewed in 
Paris. 

This Journal^ printed in the Englifli Ian* 
guage at Paris 3 is fuppofed by moft French- 
men, particularly when they read quota- 
tions from it in the French Journals, to be 
really printed in England ; and hence they 
give more confequence to the lies it con- 
tains. 



( I2 9 ) 

tains. It is under the fpecial fuperintend- 
ance, and indeed is the property of the 
French Government. The principal con- 
ductor, after Talleyrand Perigord, is Citi- 
zen Hauterive, who claims the merit of 
having, by the force of his logic, occafion- 
ed the armed neutrality of the North. The 
fubordinate labourers are Engliih or Irifli 
emigrants, who, fince the commencement 
of the paper, a very few months ago, have 
been frequently changed, or refigned their 
offices. Talleyrand, Hauterive, and Co., it 
would feem, can find no coadjutors of the 
United Kingdom to remain long in their 
fervice. 

The attempt to pafs quotations from the 
Argus on the French people, as quotations 
from an Engliih paper, is, in the true fpirit 
oijinejfe^ fo well known to the French Go- 
vernment. That it ihould be attended with 
even a partial fuccefs, is a proof of the ig- 
norant and deluded ftate to which the un- 
fortunate inhabitants of that country have 
K been 



( 130 ) 
been reduced by their rulers, in refpe£t to 
every article of public information. 



Curious Reason for Imprisonment 
in a Dungeon. 

A man, well known on the turf in £ng«° 
land, whofe name I cannot at this moment 
recollect, was imprifoned either in the Bi- 
cetre or St. Pelagie in Paris, and kept for a 
long time enfecret. He was not allowed to 
have any communication with his banker, 
who did not know what had become of 
him, and could not therefore fupply him 
with money, although he had funds for that 
purpofe in his hands. After fome months, 
however, this reftri&ion was taken off, and 
he was allowed to emerge from his cell and 
bed of ftraw. He then related to fome 
Englifh gentlemen, with whom he had an 
opportunity of converfing, that his impri- 
fonment arofe from the following circum- 
ftance : 

A French- 



( n* ) 

A Frenchman of fome fortune, who had 
been in England, took a fancy to a horfe 
belonging to this perfon. He faid, if he 
would deliver the horfe in Paris, he would 
agree to pay the price of five hundred 
pounds for him. The bargain was ftruck. 
The horfe arrived in Paris. The French- 
man receded from his bargain. The Eng- 
lifhman got angry ; and fruitlefs altercations 
enfued. Meeting with this Frenchman one 
day, coming from the Second Conful's, af- 
ter dinner, the Englifhman again addrefTed 
him with remonftrances ; but, finding thefe 
could produce no efFe<3:, was proceeding to 
ufe arguments of a more powerful nature, 
when the other took to his heels, and fought 
refuge in Cambaceres's houfe. 

The Second Conful was violently of- 
fended. The Englifhman was next day 
arretted, conveyed to prifon, immured in 
a folitary cell, and accommodated with a 
naked bed of ftraw. This fad I had in- 
formation of through an undoubted channel. 
K 2 Barras, 



( *3* ) 



Barras, Rewbel, and LaReveilliere 
Lepaux. 

Thefe three ex-directors, whom the pub- 
lic of France now almoft begin to regret, 
are living in retirement, if not obfcurity. 

Barras refides at BrufTels, and is fuppofed 
to have fquandered a great part of the 
wealth which he had acquired while in 
power. He has, however, ftill enough 
remaining to retain fome creatures and de- 
pendants : and it is not improbable that, in 
cafe of any meditated change, he may, from 
his reputation for intrepidity, be called again 
into action as the chief of a party. It is 
faid that, previous to Bonaparte's vifit to 
BrufTels, it was intimated to Barras that it 
would be agreeable to the Conful if he 
withdrew from the town during his reli- 
ance in it. 

Rewbcl 



( !33 ) 

Rewbel lives in Paris, and has alfo got a 
country houfe in its neighbourhood. He 
has purchafed feveral eftates in the depart- 
ments on the left bank of the Rhine, and is 
wallowing in wealth ; but thinks it politic 
to obferve a plainnefs in his drefs, equipage, 
and mode of living. I have frequently feen 
him and his ci-devant queen, a. lady, not of 
the moft delicate texture, driving in an old 
fhabby looking chariot, with a pair of (lout, 
clumfy, pye-bald horfes. A few months 
ago a letter, not of the moft refpe&ful kind, 
which had, on fome occafion, been written 
by Rewbel to Madame Bonaparte, found its 
way into circulation in Paris. It was im- 
mediately feized by fuperior authority. 
Rewbel was attacked in the journals. He 
confefled his having been the author of the 
letter, but denied having any knowledge of 
its publication. 

La Revellliere Lepaux, although a fana- 
tic, is not, like moft of his former colleagues, 
either a plunderer, or endowed with a cruel 
K 3 difpo- 



( r 34 ) 

difpofition. He lives at prefenr, as he did 
during his dire&orfhip, in a modeft retire- 
ment, enjoying the fociety and efteem of 
his family and friends. He always de- 
clined, or affected to decline, patronage and 
influence: and as we have no reafon to 
doubt his integrity, we have only to regret 
that he had not fufKcient wifdom to decline 
the honour of being enrolled among col- 
leagues with whom humanity was held in 
derifion, and integrity efteemed a crime. 
This ex-dire&or, more weak than criminal, 
was over-perfuaded by his colleagues to con- 
fent to the invafion of Switzerland. After- 
wards, when he difcovered that the Swifs 
were, in their religion, manners, and poli- 
tical inftitutions, the virtuous children of 
nature, he was forry for having participated 
in the crime of communicating to them fo 
large a portion of the evils of the French 
revolution. The ridicule defervedly thrown 
upon his theo-philanthropic fyftem of reli- 
gion, ought not to prevent the hiftorian 

from 



( *35 ) 
from doing juftice to the good intentions of 
La Reveilliere Lepaux. 

Remnant of the Brissotine Party 

This unfortunate party, once in poffef- 
fion of fovereign fway in France, were ori- 
ginally 32 in number, when they met in a 
club in the palais royal. There are now 
only two of them remaining, Sieyes and 
Rsederer; certainly not the moft refpecT:- 
able members of the party. The Abbe / has 
retired into obfcurity fince the 18th of 
Brumaire, after having gained an eftate 
from Bonaparte, and loft his reputation 
with the public. His intentions with re- 
gard to liberty are generally believed to be 
good ; but appreheniions for his perfonal 
fafety are fuppofed to abforb every other 
confideration. 

With refpedl to Rsederer, he has been an 

avowed and active tool of Bonaparte. In 

K 4 every 



( 136 ) 

every fucceffion of parties, indeed, he has 
been confidered by the public what the 
French call an intrigant: and perhaps this 
reputation, together with his merit in act- 
ing, have been the means of his falvation. 
In the ftruggles of parties, the oppofite fac- 
tions do not look to the converfion of the 
honeft part of their antagonifts, but of the 
unfound and intriguing: in revolutions 
like that of France, and indeed in revolu- 
tions in general, it is therefore the moft 
honeft men of the falling parties who are 
fucceffively cut off. If, of the Girondifts 
or Briffotines, but two, out of thirty-two 
members, have furvived, we may calculate 
nearly in the fame proportion refpe&ing 
other parties; fo that perhaps of all, who 
took a confpicuous and active part in the 
French revolution, not above one in fifteen 
or fixteeri is now alive ; and thefe in all 
probability the moft defpicable of the whole. 
It might be worth the trouble of any man, 
who has leifure and opportunity to make a 
minute ftatement and calculation on this 



( J 37 ) 

fubjed, to undertake the tafk. If well ex- 
ecuted, it could not fail to prove inftrudive 
to the world. 

It might naturally be expeded that the 
memory of men, who had diftinguiflied 
themfelves in the revolution, although they 
had fallen vidims to party ftruggles, fhould 
be refpeded by revolutionists ; and that this 
refped (hould be transferred in fome mea- 
fure to their families. But that is not the 
cafe in France, There, more than in any 
other* country, fuccefs alone is virtue, and 
failure alone is vice. While the family of 
Raederer is rolling in wealth and influence, 
that of Briffot is configned to poverty and 
negled. I have feen the widow of this ce- 
lebrated deputy attending, like an excellent 
mother, to the duties of educating a fine 
family of children ; and endeavouring to 
forget, in the name of Warville, every trace 
of the power and influence which fhe once 
enjoyed in Paris, as Madame Briflbt. Ma- 
dame 



( *3* ) 

dame de Warville is happier, and deferves 
to be fo, than Madame Bonaparte. 

Bernardin de St. Pierre. 

One of the moft interefting perfons I have 
feen in France, is the venerable octogena- 
rian, Bernardin de St. Pierre, fo well known 
as the friend of Rouffeau, and the author of 
the agreeable novel of Paul and Virginia. 
When I firft went to Paris, I faw him in 
the Louvre, where he had apartments. But 
of this indulgence, as well as of every 
other, he has been deprived by the confular 
government, and he now refides in private 
lodgings in the Fauxbourg St, Germain, 
He is too honeft a man to be ufeful to thofe 
at prefent in power in Frances but men 
who affecl: to honour fcience and letters 
fhould, for the fake of the confiftency 
which they pretend, have continued to pa- 
tronize this venerable man in the decline of 

a life 



( 139 ) 
a life fo ufefully and refpe&ably em- 
ployed. 

He has got two beautiful children, by a 
former marriage, whom he calls Paul and 
Virginia. They are both educated in the 
utmoft fimplicity of nature, and are remark- 
able for virtuous propenfities, and a total 
abfence of guile or deceit. I could not help 
contemplating thofe fweet children, with 
mixed fenfations of pleafure and companion, 
foreboding the calamities which, from a 
miftaken and too virtuous education, they 
will probably have to fuffer in their pro- 
grefs through life. 

Bernardin de St. Pierre is again married 
to a young woman of four or five and 
twenty, the daughter of a ci-devant noble* 
man ; and is likely to have a farther in- 
creafe of his family. He continues a mem- 
ber of the national inftitution, a dignity of 
which the government cannot decently 
deprive him» 

Helen 



( H° ) 



Helen Maria Williams, 

Who has refided in Paris during the greatefl: 
part of the revolution, publifhed, in Auguft 
or September laft, a work faid to be a cor- 
refpondence of Lewis XVI. Some perfons, 
ignorant of the manner in which thefe 
letters got into Mifs Williams's pofTeflion, 
affected to doubt their authenticity, as for- 
merly happened in this country with refpecT: 
to the celebrated poems of Offian. But the 
public in general feem to receive them as 
genuine productions of the late king of 
France. 

The publication of them, it would ap^« 
pear, had given umbrage to members of 
the French government; for even after 
having received the ufual fan&ion of autho- 
rity, their circulation was prohibited, and 
they were feized by the police. After fome 
lapfe of time, however, and probably the 

alteration 



( Hi ) 

alteration of the obnoxious pages or para- 
graphs, the work was reftored, and allowed 
to be put again into circulation. I have not 
had an opportunity of comparing a copy of 
the French edition with that which has been 
publifhed in England, in order to afcertain 
what degree of truth there may be in this 
conjecture. It may be worthy the atten- 
tion of the curious, as leading to the know- 
ledge of fome interefting fads or conclufions 
refpecting the politics of the day. 



The Manner in which I obtained 
my Passport. 

For feveral weeks after the promulgation 
of the decree againft the Englifh, I remained 
without appearing, in conformity with the 
terms of it, before the conftituted authori- 
ties. This I did for two reafons, — ift, be- 
caufe I wifhed to avoid being fent to Fon- 
tainbleau; and, 2dly, becaufe in France 
every meafure being at prefent the refult of 

the 



( 14* ) 

the whim of the moment, I was not with- 
out hopes of fome change in the confular 
refolves refpe&ing us, or at leaft fome dimi- 
nution of the rigour with which they were, 
in the beginning, carried into execution. 

But when accounts were received that 
the Britifh government had refufed to ac- 
knowledge us as prifoners of war, I began 
to think that we might be detained in 
France, until the re- eftablifhment cf peace, 
if we could not individually contrive fome 
means of effecting our efcape. This I did 
not choofe to attempt clandeftinely, as, 
having before the war been rather a£tive in 
expreffing my enmity to the meafures of 
the tyrant, I would not now afford him a 
pretext for ordering me into clofe confine- 
ment. It required much reflection to decide 
upon the moft probable means of procuring, 
in a regular manner, my liberation. This, 
at firft view, did not appear a very eafy 
tafk for a man, who had little money, few 
friends, and from his freedom of fpeech 

had 



( "43 ) 
had made a confiderable number of enemies 
in Paris. I, however, after confultation 
with a mod ingenious friend, formed my 
plan ; and, on the fifth of July, founding 
my pretenfions on the memorial I. had pre- 
fented to the minifter of the interior laft 
year, and the patronage which the French 
government are defirous of appearing to 
confer on fcience, addreffed the grand judge 
as follows : — 

To his Excellency the Grand 
Judge, Minister of Justice. 

" Citizen Grand Judge, 

<{ The misfortunes and animofities of war 
have often been forgotten by governments, 
when opportunities have occurred of pro- 
tecting fcientific refearches ; and it is with 
pleafure I read in the public papers, that 
motives of this kind have lately occafioned 
the releafe of the French fhip la Naturallfte^ 
in England. 

" Although 



( 144 ) 
" Although an Fnglifliman *, I bear nei- 
ther civil nor military commiffion ; and I 
have not inhabited England for ten years. 
My profeffion is medical. Refearches on the 
nature of difeafes called contagious, have 
for a long time formed the principal object 
of my purfuits* I have been occupied for 
ten years, in making experiments on feveral 
forts of malignant fevers in both the Indies ; 
and in effect, I only require a few experi- 
ments more to complete a work, which is 
already far advanced, on epidemic and pef- 
tilential difeafes. 

" The Mittifter of the Interior's letter, 
which I have the honour to tranfmit to 
your Excellency, will prove the truth of 
what I advance. The favourable man- 
ner in which that minifter received a 
memorial 1 had the honour of prefenting 
to him, on this fubjecl:, laft year, deferves 

* Abroad, Englifli, Irifh, and Scotch, are indifcri- 
minately called Englishmen. 

8 my 



( H5 ) 

my praife. At this moment it is with re- 
gret that I am prevented by the general 
meafure, which has juft been adopted againft 
the Englifh, from continuing refearches, of 
which, 1 flatter myfelf, the refults might 
prove ufeful to all nations. Bat I cannot 
doubt that the French government, as foon 
as they are informed of it, will view with a 
favourable eye, my zeal for the progrefs of 
fcience, and the good of humanity ; and 
that they will grant me a pafTport, by virtue 
of which I may freely purfue my refearches. 
With this view I take the liberty of confi- 
dently addrefling your Excellency. 

" Greeting and refpecV 



To which I received the following an- 
fwer: 



The 



( «£ ) 



The Chief of the sixth Division 
of the War Department, to 
Mr. Charles Maclean, English 
Physician, Prisoner at Paris. 

? The Grand Judge, Sir, has tranfmitted 
to the Minifter at War the letter, in which 
you requeft to be freed from your parole *, 
and liberty to purfue freely throughout the 
republic f the refearches neceffary to com- 
plete your work on epidemic difeafes. 

* I had never been on parole, nor was ever vifited 
from the police, till I made myfelf known to them, by 
applying to the Grand Judge. 

f This is another miftake ; for I had never afked 
for liberty to purfue my refearches throughout the re* 
public only : it was, however, probably a wilful mif- 
take ; for I believe the members of the government in 
general were fo much afliamed of the decree againft 
the Englim, that they only wifhed for a decent pretext 
to allow individuals an opportunity of departing with- 
out giving them exprefs permiflfion. 

« That 



( *47 ) 
^ That minifter charges me to acquaint 
you, that hie cannot determine refpe&ing 
your demand, without having documents 
laid before him proving that it is ten years 
fince you have refided in England, and the 
precife period of your arrival in France. 

** He requefts you to tranfmit them as 
foori as as poffible. 

u I have the honour to falute you. 

(Signed) Gouthoz." 
Paris 9 13 Tber- 
midor, an xi. 

t had now rather a difficult tafk : for 
although it was undoubtedly true that, 
during the laft ten years, I had been only a 
few we^ks in England, yet it was not an 
eafy matter to produce proofs of the fad. 
Precifely at this period, I had the good for- 
tune to meet with a French furgeon in the 
Palais Royals whom I had formerly known 
in India. He was very glad to fee me : 
L 2 Abl 



( 148 ) 

" Ah ! Mon cher docteur^ cejl votis ;" and 
hugged me vehemently in the old French 
ftyle of falutation : " Mon cher confrere" 
faid I, defending myfeif however as well as 
I could from his embraces, " I am rejoiced 
to meet with you once more on this fide of 
the Styx. How doth it fare with you ? 
ComwSe vqus voye% ; but if you will walk 
home with me, I will tell you the particu- 
lars, and will introduce you to my wife.' 
With all my heart ; and we walked to the 
Rue Jean Jaques Roujfeatt. I could not all 
this while recollect the name of my new- 
found friend ; but did not choofe to hurt his 
feelings by feeming to have forgotten it. 
On our arrival, however, at the door, I read 
in large characters, on a board : 

B'**'****'***Chirurgien et Accoucheur. 

..Citizen B********* had been furgeon of 
a privateer, captured in the Straights of 
Sunda, by a fquadron commanded by Com- 
modore Sir Charles Mitchell, in J 793, in 
5 which 



( »49 ) 
which fquadron I had the honour to aft- 
Having rendered himfelf and his imp- 
mates feme fervices, fuch as the ordinary 
duties of humanity required, he was now 
very defirous of repaying the obligation, 
" What can I do to ferve you ?" Come 
with me to the grand judge, and tell him 
how I behaved to your countrymen, who 
were our priibners at Batavia. This 
worthy fon of JEfculapius immediately ac- 
companied me to the grand judge, with a 
phyfician of his acquaintance, whom I af- 
terwards found had been phyfician to Ro^ 
befpierre, and is now phyfician to fome of 
the principal members of the confular go- 
vernment. It- happened the levy of the 
grand judge was en that day very full : 
there were upwards of a hundred people in 
the antichamber. When it came to our 
turn to be noticed., I prefented my memo- 
rial with a modeft inclination of the head) 
the phyfician made an eloquent harangue. 
in my favour after the manner of the an- 
cients, and the fedneft furgeon and man- 
L 3 mid wile, 



( ISO ) 

midwife, taking the grand judge by one of 
the buttons of his robe, made my eulogium 
in rather more laconic terms : " Monfieur" 
faid he, in a tone of uncommon animation, 
" // a fauve la vie a trots cent Franfois" 
At this declaration, fo unexpected to myfelf, 
the eyes of all the people in the room were 
turned upon me, and I could not help 
blufhing. The grand judge, bowing to me 
with a look of complacency, faid, Cejl trh 
hien, Monficur ; and turning to his clerk, 
defired him to make a report on my cafe in 
four-and-twenty hours. 

This I confefs to have beeri a grateful 
moment in my life. But our bufinefs was 
not now with the grand judge. Being con- 
fidered a prifoner of war, my memorials 
were all referred to the war department. 
With the teftimony of citizen B********, 
that of a German friend, who was then in 
Paris, of my refidence iq Germany, and 
fome other chronological documents, I fuc- 
ceeded in proving to the fatisfa&ion of the 

minifter 



( Ijl ) 

minifter at war, that I had not refided for 
ten years in England. He accordingly or- 
dered General Junot to erafe my name from 
the lift of prifoners (where by the bye it 
had never been enrolled) j with which de- 
cifion I was made acquainted in the follow- 
ing letter : 

" The minifter charges me, to inform 
you, Sir, that he has authorifed the ge- 
neral of the firft divifion to erafe you 
from the lift of prifoners of war, that you 
might be enabled to purfue freely, through- 
out the republic, the refearches for which 
you have occafion, in order to complete 
your work on epidemic and peftilential 
difeafes. 

" I greet you, 

(Signed) Gouthoz." 

I $th FriiBldor^ year xu 

With this I went to General Junot, and 

got my certificate of radiation. While I 

was with him, he figned a pafTport for a 

L 4 Mr, 



( '5* ) 
Mr. Benfield, whom I underftood to be of 
the houfe of Boyd, Benfield, and Co., to go 
by Calais to Hamburg. This ftruck me 
as a defiination altogether Angular 5 and I 
concluded it was in effect a paffport to go 
to London. But nothing ought to furprife 
in Paris. 

With the certificate of* General Junot, 
that I was erafed from the lift of prifoners, 
I went again to the grand judge, who im- 
mediately gave orders to write to the pre- 
fect of police to grant me a paffport. Con- 
sidering that I was now no longer a pri- 
foner, I thought I had a right to, get a paff- 
port to go where I pleafed : but as I did 
not judge it entirely confident with found 
policy, to afk leave to go ftraight to Eng- 
land,- I demanded one for the united Rates 
of America, which was forthwith granted, 
on condition, however, that I mould em- 
bark at Bourdeaux only. My paffport was 
dated the fourth complimentary day, or the 
20th of September, and allowed me fix de- 
cades. 



( 153 ) 

cades, or two months to quit the territory 
of the republic. 

First Day of the republican Year. 

On the 23d of September, or the firft 
day of the republican year, I went. to fee 
the annual fete and illuminations at the 
Tuilleries : but what I was moil anxious to 
pbferve, before my departure from France, 
was the degree of popularity enjoyed by 
the Firft Conful : and of this I had very fa- 
fcisfa&ory proof. As the band of mufic be- 
gan to play,- Bonaparte came forward, for 
the firft time he had ventured on fuch a 
meafure, into the balcony where the kings 
of France ufed to fit upon fimilar occafions. 
The feeond and third conful, with forne of 
the minifters, were ftanding like lacqueys, 
behind him. Not a word of applaufe was 
heard in any quarter. At the end of every 
piece of mufic there was a clapping of 
Jiands. The whole time the mufic was 



( W ) 

playing, the Firft Conful feemed to fit upon 
thorns. He moved his chair backwards 
and forwards, firft to one fide and then to 
the other, bit his nails, and ufed various 
geftures indicating a confiderable degree of 
agitation. At laft, the mufic being ended, 
he got tip, advanced to the front of the 
balcony, made three of the raoft ungra- 
cious bows I ever faw, and withdrew. One 
folitary voice behind me cried out, Vive Bo- 
naparte ! which fo much excited the mer- 
riment of the crowd, that the individual, 
who had thus diftinguifhed himfelf, was 
obliged to retire in fhame and confufiort 
from the place. The confuls having with- 
drawn, three lacqueys came into the bal- 
cony to take away the chairs, upon which 
a very general clappirjg of hands, (homing, 
and laughing were heard among the crowd, 
as if in open derifion. The fcene, upon the 
whole, was fuch as muft have proved 
highly mortifying to the feelings of his 
conful ar majefty. 

Real 



( '55 ) 



Real Cause of the War; and 
the Consequences to the World 
of the Success of England ok 

FRANCEo 

Whatever may be the pretext alledged 
for the renewal of the war, it cannot be 
jdoubted that, on the fide of England, the 
real motive was the inordinate ambition 
difplayed, fince the treaty of Amiens, by 
the confular government of France. The 
pretext oftentatioufly held forth by Bona- 
parte is the non-fulfilment of treaties ; but 
his real motive is to deftroy the power, 
the independence, and the liberties of Eng- 
land, and confequently to deftroy the 
power, the independence, and the liberties 
of all the nations of the world ; or in other 
words, to eftablifh an univerfal defpotifm. 
Bonaparte has, ever fince the ceffation of 
hoftilities between the two countries, been 

endea,- 



( 156 ) 

endeavouring to make the caufe of England 
appear, on the continent, as diftind from 
that of the other nations of Europe. He 
has laboured with confiderable addrefs, and 
in fome degree not without fuccefs, to per- 
fuade the continental powers that England, 
being geographically excluded, mould be 
alfo politically excluded, from every con- 
nection with the reft of Europe. While 
he was pillaging with his troops, or regu- 
lating by his influence the interior of almor]: 
every nation on the continent, he gravely 
told them that he was only conferring fa- 
vours, and that all they had to fear was 
from the Englifh ufurping the dominion of 
the fea, and overrunning Afia. 

To England he has faid, in e fifed", " You 
have no right whatever to interfere in the 
regulation of political affairs on the conti- 
nent ; that is my province exclufively. In 
whatever manner I may choofe to regulate 
the affairs of Helvetia, Holland, Italy, Ger- 
many, Spainj and Portugal, that is no con- 
cern 



( *57 ) 

cern of yours. If I mould even appoint 
cuftom-houfe and revenue officers in all 
thefe countries, and exclude your manu- 
factures from their markets, it is your duty 
fubmiflively to acquiefce, and to confider 
them ftill as neutral powers. You have no 
right whatever to meddle with any thing 
which I have not exprefsly permitted in 
the treaty of Amiens. The treaty of 
Amiens, all the treaty of Amiens, and 
nothing but the treaty of Amiens !" 

He has not even faid, obferving the 
liberality of a common robber : " I will 
command wherever I can fend foldiers : do 
you command wherever you can fend 
{hips." No! The fum of his reafoning is 
this : " I will command wherever I can 
fend foldiers ; but you muft divide the do- 
minion of the feas with the loweft of my 
vaffals." j With refpect to relinquishing 
any of his ufurpations on the continent, 
that was not to be fpoken of, unlefs Eng- 
land 



( ij8 1 

land would confent previoufly to relinqttifii 
all her acquifitions in the Eaft Indies. 

Could any thing be more infufferably 1 
infulting to all the powers of Europe than 
this conduct ? While it contained, with 
refpecT: to England, more than fufficient 
caufe of war, (it is not neceflfary to advert 
to his fubfequent attempts upon the free- 
dom of parliamentary debate and the liberty 
of the prefs, conftituting of themfelves fuf- 
ficient grounds of hoftility,) it no doubt 
mud have occafioned. ferious reflections 
among all the fovereigns of Europe : and 
thefe reflections muft have taught them 
that the dominion of the fea, as eftabliflied 
by England, is little more than a bugbear, 
While ufurpation by land, fuch as that of 
Bonaparte over the nations of the continent, 
is neceflarily accompanied by the moft fe- 
rious mifery and oppreflion* They will 
alfo perceive that, while the ufurpations of 
this ambitious defpot, are incompatible 

with 



( «59 ) 

with the independence of any continental 
nation of Europe ; the conquefts of the 
Englifh in the Eaft Indies, of which he has 
fo bitterly complained, are of real benefit to 
the natives of that country, without being 
an injury to any other people. Neither can 
they fail to draw the obvious conclufion, 
that the fuccefs of England, in this great 
ftruggle, far from having any unfavourable 
effe& on the independence of the conti- 
nental nations of Europe, would be the 
means of reftoring that large portion of it 
which they have already loft, while the 
fucsefs of France would infallibly carry 
with it the lofs of the remainder. And this 
conclufion will forcibly enjoin the policy of 
facrificing all fubordinate confiderations, in 
•rder to unite heart and hand againft the 
common enemy of the independence of 
nations. 



Journei 



( i6o ) 



Journey from Paris to Bourdeaux. 

It was more than three weeks after I had 
obtained my paffport before I was enabled 
to leave Paris. Being at length prepared 
for the journey, I took a place in the 
diligence, which fets off from the Rue de 
Bouloy^ for Bourdeaux. The price of the 
place was 72 livres, or 3/. Sterling ; appa- 
rently a very moderate fum for 1 64 leagues, 
or about 4 1 o Englifh miles. This is cer- 
tainly one of the cheapeft roads in France. 
But if we compare it with the rate of tra- 
velling in England, making allowance for 
difference of celerity and comfort, it will 
appear extravagantly dear. In a French 
journey, the expences on the road are, from 
the length of time, neceffarily more confi- 
derable than in an Englifh one. If feven 
days be required to travel from Paris to 
Bourdeaux, a diftance of 410 miles, while 

the 



( i6t ) 

the journey from London to Edinburgh, 
being nearly 500 miles, is performed in 
about 60 hours, and if the price be as 3 to 
5, we fhall find that the rate of travelling 
in England is not only abfolutely cheaper 
than in France in refpeft to diftance, but 
that it is farther attended with an immenfe 
faving of time, even to two-thirds. 

On the nth of October, at noon, I re- 
paired to the diligence office, Rue de Bouloy % 
where I found my fellow-travellers aflem- 
bled, and ready to take pofleffion of their 
places. The noife and confufion, iffuing 
from the groupe of males, females, children, 
dogs, and horfes, colle&ed in the yard, 
formed a concert which was not of the moft 
melodious kind. After having feen my 
baggage difpofed of, I began to reconnoitre 
the furrounding faces. One of them, whom 
I recolle&ed to have often feen, I took the 
liberty of accofting : Your face, fir, is very 
familiar to me, but I cannot recoiled where 
M I have 



( *& ) 

I have had the pleafure of feeing you. u I 
am a very public man, Sir ; I am the apo- 
thecary, who lives oppofite to the church of 
Saint Roche." Are we to be favoured with 
your company in the diligence ? " No, Sir ; 
but that young man, my fon, has taken a 
place in it for Bordeaux. He is going as 
far as Bayonne, and will perhaps vifit Eng- 
land before he returns." In that cafe, Sir, 
your fon and I may be better acquainted. 
" He has already been in your country, 
and fpeaks your language tolerably well." 

By this time the vehicle being ready, our 
names w r ere called over, and every one took 
his place according to feniority ; u e. the 
perfon whofe name was firft infcribed in 
the books of the office was entitled to the 
firft place, and fo in rotation. But there 
being women and children, politenefs, as 
well as humanity, required an infringement 
of this regulation. Thofe who were en- 
titled to the belt places made a voluntary 

furrender 



( i6 3 ) 

fur render of their rights. It fomewhat fur- 
prifed me that no paflports were afked for 
on this occafion. 

Palling through Paris to the barriere de 
V obfervatoire, at a flow and folemn pace, 
each of us feemed abforbed in his own re- 
flections, and no one appeared defirous of 
interrupting the filence. At the profpecT: 
of quitting this gay capital, every one wore 
an expreflion of regret on his countenance; 
and for my own part, although there was 
nothing I more ardently defired than to 
leave the territories of the French republic, 
I could not help participating in thefe ge- 
neral feelings of the moment. In this ftate 
of mind, we proceeded for at leaft a couple 
of hours; but after having advanced fome 
leagues into the country, the natural gaiety 
of the French character began to prepon- 
derate over all fenfations of regret or forrow, 
and a general converfation enfued. 

M 2 Befide 



( i«4 ) 

Befide the paffengers in the cabriolet, and 
on top, we were feven perfons infide, three 
of whom were women. One of thefe fe- 
males was dreffed in men's cloaths : fhe was 
going to join her hufband at Bordeaux. 
The two others had children on their knees, 
and were far gone with child. 

The diligence, like moft French vehicles 
of that kind, alfo carried goods. It was 
over-loaded and top-heavy. Our pace was 
about a league an hour. The firft day paffed 
without any particular accident. But on the 
fecond, in the morning, one of the wheels 
giving way, we were overturned, within 
five leagues of Orleans. 

It was lingular as well as fortunate, that 
no perfon, not even the women or children, 
were hurt. The accident, however, had 
fome very unpleafant efFe&s. We were 
detained ten hours in repairing the damages 
fuftained ; and this detention deranged the 

ufual 



( i6 S ) 

ufual regularity of arrivals and departures 
at every future ftage, fo that we had nothing 
good to eat, and fcarcely any time to fleep, 
during the remainder of the journey. 

It was early in the morning when our 
wheel broke, and we were obliged to fend 
to Orleans to get a new one. In the mean 
time we proceeded to a village called Arte- 
nay, about a league from the place of our 
overthrow, where, after having got a coffee 
breakfaft, fome went to bed, and others to 
write to their friends at Paris. 

After being refrefhed by a few hours 
fleep, we had a very good dinner ferved up 
which was the more remarkable as it was 
the only good one we had from Paris to 
Bordeaux. The carriage was repaired by 
the time we had finifhed our repaft, and we 
fet orTa-frefh upon our journey. But it was 
pad four o'clock, and we mud pafs through 
Orleans in the dark, a circumftance which 
we all very much regretted. 

M3 All 



( i66 ) 

All therefore I can fay of this city is, 
that it is about thirty leagues from Paris, 
contains 36,000 inhabitants, and is the chief 
town of the department of La Loiret. 

A league an hour was dull travelling for 
a man, who wifhed for nothing more ar- 
dently than to quit the territories of the 
French republic. The conductor, although 
apparently very faithful to his employers, 
did not ftudy their interefts in effect ; for 
he was fullen, impudent, and unaccommo- 
dating to the travellers. Our breakfafts, 
dinners, and fuppers were bad, becaufe, 
owing to the accident we had met with, 
we never arrived at the ufual hours at thofe 
inns, where meals were kept in readinefs 
for the paflengers ; and, when we did hap- 
pen to get any thing comfortable, the con- 
ductor, anxious to make up for loft time, 
interrupted us much too foon with a fum- 
mons to depart. The manoeuvres of the 
children in the coach, rendered it frequently 
neceffary to open the windows y and the 

cold 



( 167 ) 
cold rendered it as often rieceflary to fhut 
them. 

Thefe circumftances occafioned many 
difputes which, however, always termi- 
nated in a laugh or a bon-mot. Inconve- 
niences, which in England would be 
deemed ferious grievances, the French, like 
good practical philofophers, endeavour to 
turn into fubje&s of merriment. They 
would do ftill better, however, if they 
would alfo endeavour to abolifh them. For 
the benefit of our fucceflbrs on the road to 
Bordeaux, I was happy to learn, from 
fome of my companions, that it was in 
contemplation to make the carnage of goods 
and the carriage of travellers henceforth 
two diftincl: branches of commerce through- 
out the republic, and that, for the latter of 
thefe branches, eighty diligences, upon a new 
conftruction, were actually building at Paris. 

The moft confpicuous of our company 

was a Gafcon, about 45 years of age, who 

had been a purveyor of hofpitals in Saint 

M 4 Domingo, 



( '68 ) 

Domingo, and was now going in the fame 
capacity to the army of Bayonne. He 
wrangled with the condu&or, kept the 
children in order, took care of one of the 
women, and on various occafions rendered 
his knowledge of purveying ufeful to our 
community. His pronunciation was fo 
very ftrongly provincial as to excite the 
rifibility of a foreigner, and his furprife, if 
he had only been accuftomed to the Parifian 
dialed:. They differ more remarkably from 
each other than the broadeft Scotch or Irifh 
does from the Englifh fpoken in London, 
The Galcon was endowed with a quicknefs 
of imagination and a volubility of tongue, 
which did not permit him to give any quar- 
ter to the auditory organs of his com- 
panions. He literally gafconaded the whole 
way ; but he lied with fuch rapidity and 
grace as to prove feldom tirefome. 

The apothecary's fon was a very promifing 
young man, who had received an excellent 
education, and had none of the frivolity 

which 



( i69 ) 

which ufually characlerifes a Farifian. He 
had been for fome years in England, and 
for a confiderable time in Berlin ; fo that in 
his habits he was a happy compound 
of the Englifh, German, and Fr nch. I 
was forry to fee a young man fo gifted, 
going to join the French armies as an apo- 
thecary of the third clafs, (Un pbarmacien 
de la troifieme clajfe.) 

It happened that one of our female fellow* 
travellers, who was a native of the Mauri- 
tius, was related to a French family with 
whom I had been intimately acquainted. 
This circumftance afforded us a great fund 
for converfation. 

The women entertained us, from time to 
time, with fongs principally in derifion of the 
Firft Conful. The chorus of one of them 
ended with the words: le plus grand confidds 
la republlque ; it contained puns upon Ma- 
dame Bonaparte, which were not entirely 
of the mod modeft kind. It 



( 170 } 

It was remarkable that neither in the 
diligence, nor on the road, could it be per- 
ceived that the confular family had a fingle 
friend in the country, 

We were, in one refpecT:, Angularly un- 
fortunate : for of all the confiderable towns 
between Paris and Bordeaux, we pafled 
through none but Angouleme in the day 
time. It happened that our arrival at and 
departure from Blois % Tours and Poitiers^ 
were either after fun-fet, or before it was 
light in the morning. 

Blois is the chief place of the department 
of Loire et Cher, and contains 13,000 inha- 
bitants. Tours is the chief place of the 
department of Indre et Loire^ and contains 
22,000 inhabitants. They are both inte- 
refting from their fituation. Of Poitiers I 
fliall afterwards have occafion to fpeak. 

The 



( i7i ) 

The country between Orleans and Tours, 
along the beautiful banks of the Loire, is 
full of enchanting landfcapes. A young 
gentleman of Poitiers, who had ferved in 
the royal army in Germany, and was one 
of our fellow-travellers, gave me a fhort 
hiftory of fome of the charming villas and 
chateaux in that quarter as we paffed them. 
Among others he fhewed me an elegant 
building, embofomed in wood, fituated oa 
the fummit of a hill, on the left bank of the 
Loire. It appeared to be diftant about two 
leagues from the road, which is on the right 
bank. " That chateau" laid he, " before the 

revolution, belonged to the family of . 

They emigrated to avoid the common fate 
of the moft worthy members of the commu- 
nity, who did not enter into all the fafliion- 
able exceflls of the revolution. Their eftate 
became what was called national property. 
The prefent heir to the inheritance, a lady, 
naturally defirous of returning to her coun- 
try, had applied to the constituted authorities 
pf the republic for permiffion. She even re- 
ceived 



( 17* ) 

ceived the affurance that fhe might have her 
houfe and eftate back, upon paying a certain 
fum to the nation. 

" Unfortunately for her, Citizen Chaptal, 
minifter of the interior, had, in the mean 
time, feen and taken a fancy to the chateau. 
It is fo charmingly fituated, and commands 
fo extenfive a profped along the beautifully 
winding banks of the Loire, that Citizen 
Chaptal (or perhaps his wife) determined 
to make the acquifition for the family. He 
purchafed it upon eafy terms from the re- 
public ; and the lady, to whom it of right 
belonged, upon hearing the intelligence, 
has thought proper to relinquifh her plan of 
returning for the prefent to France." 

The young man, who gave me this ac- 
count, was evidently of good family and 
education. He fpoke very freely in the 
diligence againft the prefent order of things ; 
and did not fcruple to treat the Gafcon, as a 
man who, he was convinced, had been a 

violent 



( *73 ) 

violent jacobin, and would be any thing 
that was fafhionable for the moment. He 
and I frequently walked before in prefer- 
ence to remaining in the carriage, in order 
to enjoy the frefli air, and to be at liberty 
to converfe the more freely. It was not 
difficult for us to keep pace with the dili- 
gence, if it fhould be fo named. 

He informed me that at Poitiers^ the ca- 
pital of the ci-devant Poitu, where he re- 
fided, the people were generally difarFe&e>I 
to the prefent government, and that the 
fame fpirit pervaded all that part of the 
country. I fliould not have been fo for- 
ward to credit all he mentioned on this 
fubjedl, knowing the bias of the human 
mind to believe what it wifhes, had I not 
perceived that fimilar fentiments were ge- 
nerally prevalent on the road, and that no 
one, who was in a civil capacity, attempted 
to advocate the prefent order of things. 
Many of the ci devant nobility, he faid 8 
had retired to the town of Poitiers, on ac- 
8 count 



( m ) 

count of the cheapnefs of living in that 
part of the country, 

Poitiers is at prefent the chief place of 
the department of La Vienne, and contains 
ahout eighteen thoufand inhabitants. The 
fociety, as might naturally be fuppofed from 
the circumftances above mentioned, is of a 
fuperior kind. My companion, before we 
parted, told me his name, and invited me 
to fupper with his family. But this polite 
invitation, having more need of repofe than 
of fupper, I declined ; and we feparated with 
mutual good wifhes. This young man has 
a mind uncommonly ardent and elevated ; 
and, together with much general informa- 
tion, feems to poflefs a eonfiderable know- 
ledge of military tactics. His adivity and 
noble fentiments are to me a fure pledge 
that he will not be an idle fpe&ator of the 
prefent conteft ; and I cannot, for my foul, 
help entertaining a prefentiment that we 
fhall meet again, but not on the banks of 
the Loire. 

Before 



( i7S ) 

Before I left Paris, I had received offers 
of introductory letters, from a very worthy 
prelate of the ancient regime, to his friends 
at Poitiers, which, at any other time, I 
would have gladly accepted. But my ob- 
ject being to get as quietly and as fpeedily 
out of France as poflible, I did not wifh to 
form any new acquaintances, or to expofe 
myfelf to any unneceflary delay. 

We had fome fupperimmediately upon 
our arrival at the inn, about eight o'clock 
in the evening, and did not delay a mo- 
ment going to bed. This was the firft re- 
gular fleep we had enjoyed fmce leaving 
Paris, being a period of four days. Be- 
tween four and five o'clock in the morning 
we were awoke, and in half an hour after- 
wards departed, without being enabled to 
fee the town. 

Here we left the gentleman I have juft 
mentioned, and two of the women with 
their children. The Gafcon, the apothe- 
cary's 



( i 7 6 } 

eary's fon, the lady in roan's apparel, and 
myfelf, remained in poffeflion of the whole 
diligence to Angouleme, where we had to 
flop for a reinforcement of paflfengers. 
When we arrived it was very early in the 
morning, very cold, and nothing good was 
to be had for breakfaft. We were detained 
at this place for feveral hours, the paf- 
fengers, who were to arrive from town (we 
were in the fuburbs), not being quite 
ready. 

Tired of waiting, I fallied forth in queft 
of obje&s of curiofity ; but there was 
nothing, at that time of the morning, to be 
feen but an ill-built town and an extenfive, 
but not a very rich, view of the furrounding 
country. This town is the chief place of 
the department of La Charente^ and is fup- 
pofed to contain above fourteen thoufand 
inhabitants. It is built on the declivity of 
a hill, and the houfes have all the aukward- 
nefs of antient architecture. 

After 



( 177 ) 

After waiting at leaft three hours, our 
travellers arrived. One of them, as ap- 
peared from the detention of the diligence 
on her account, was a lady of fome in- 
fluence in the place ; fhe refided ufually at 
Bordeaux, but frequently travelled back- 
wards and forwards. On this occafion, as 
the landlady informed us, fhe was carrying 
fome hundred guinea fowls for fale to town, 
which were all to be packed up in the 
bafket and on the top of the coach *. 

There were befide an elderly lady, upon 
whom the motion of the carriage had the 
fame effecT: with the agitation of a veffel at 
fea ; and a young manufacturer of the city, 
going to fee the fair at Bordeaux, previous 
to his marriage with a lady of Angouleme. 

It was early in the morning of the fixth 
day from Paris that we left Angouleme. 

* I forgot how much (he told me the carriage of 
thefe birds would amount to \ but it was fomething 
confiderable *, and I was no longer furprifed that we 
were detained three hours on account of their owner. 

N The 



( *78 ) 

The country through which we travelled 
had by no means the fertile and well cul- 
tivated appearance of that which is watered 
by the Loire ; but living is cheap. The 
people, however, as we approached the fea, 
began to complain of the effects which the 
war had already produced. 

This day, we met with a great number 
of waggons loaded with cotton and wool, 
which, upon enquiry, we found were def- 
tined for the low countries. Since navi- 
gation has been impeded by the war, the 
manufacturers of Brabant have been obliged 
to get their cotton and wool by land from 
Bordeaux. The additional expence of 
carriage, thus occafioned, if there were no 
other unfavourable circumftance, would be 
fufficient to preclude the manufactures of 
France from any kind of competition with 
thofe of Great Britain. It feems even pro- 
bable that fo great an augmentation in the 
price of raw materials, as muft arife from a 
diftant land-carriage, together with the di- 

minifhed 



( "79 ) 

miniflied fale for manufactured goods, 
owing to the circumftances of the war, and 
the want of capital and confidence generally 
prevalent in France, will occafion, in no 
long time, the total ruin of the cotton and 
woollen manufactures of that country. 
This is a lamentable confideration : but the 
people have the ambition of their govern- 
ment and their own blindnefs entirely to 
blame. 

It was remarkable that the names of moft 
of the towns or villages through which we 
pafTed between Angouleme and Bordeaux, 
terminate in ac y — Petignac, Reignac, Cher- 
fac, Cavignac, Cubfac. This termination, 
for which I fhall leave ancient hiftorians to 
account, is not peculiar to the department 
of la Gironde. It prevails in the depart- 
ment of La Charente^ as in Blanzac, Hier- 
zac, Rouillac, Broffac, Segonzac, and the 
well known town of Cognac, which, al- 
though it does not contain quite three 
thoufand inhabitants, has the credit of fup- 

N 2 piy m g 



( i8o ) 

plying the world with an immenfe quan- 
tity of excellent brandy. In that of La 
Charente Infcrieure, as in Gemozac, Jon- 
fac, Archiac. In that of La Correze, as 
in Meyniac, Sornac, Seilhac, Freignac, 
Donzenac, Juillac, Luberfac, MeyfTac. A 
few are alfo to be found in the departments 
De Cotes du Nord, La Dordagne, Du Lot, 
Lot et Garonne , and Lozere. 

From Carvignac to Cubfac, fome of us, 
having fet off on foot before the diligence, 
walked the whole ftage, and had breakfafted 
before the reft arrived. In our walk we 
met with a party of faiiors, going from 
Bayonne to Breft. Taking us alfo for fai- 
iors in the dark (it was between five" and 
fix o'clock in the morning), they hailed us, 
and faid we fhould be too late, for that the 
privateer, being full manned, had already 
failed. This was the Bellona privateer, 
which had become celebrated from her re- 
cent capture of the Lord Nelfon Eaft India- 
man 



( i8t ) 

man. We thanked them for their infor- 
mation, obferving that mayhap we might 
get another fhip, and wifhed them a good 
journey. 

After fun-rife, as we approached the 
banks of the Dordogne, the eye was regaled 
with one of the raoft charming profpe&s I 
ever beheld. The vineyards and country- 
houfes, fituated on eminences and decli- 
vities, along the banks of that fine river, 
form fome of the moft pi&urefque and 
beautiful landfcapes the human imagination 
can conceive. The vintage had this year 
been uncommonly abundant : in confe- 
quence of which, and of the war, both wine 
and brandy were plentiful and cheap. 

This country, the department Be la Gi- 
ronde^ forms part of what was formerly 
called Gafcony. The Gafcon Patois is a 
very curious and rather a harfli language, 
differing as much from the French as the 
Gaelic or Erfe from the Scotch or Englifh. 
N 3 From 



( 182 ) 

From Cubfac we had to crofs the Dordogne 
The ferry-boat was full of paffengers of va- 
rious defcriptions, cafks, fheep, horfes, and 
men. From the jargon which was here 
fpoken I could fcarcely convince myfelf that 
I was not fuddenly tranfported to fome 
cither country. French, although generally 
underftood, was not fpoken in common 
converfation by the paffengers ; and was 
almoft exclufively confined to thofe of our 
own party, who were in the boat. The 
Gafcon was quite; at home. They pro- 
nounce the r with a burr, as in Northum- 
berland. But what moft attracted my notice 
was that the common people pronounce b, v y 
and v y b ; Libourney fpr inftance, a town 
near Bordeaux, they pronounce Livoume v 
and Llvourne y Leghorne in Italy, Libourne P 
A refident of Bordeaux, who croffed the 
ferry with us, when I firft made this re- 
mark, denied the juftice of it, fo much had 
habit rendered him familiar with the prac- 
tice. But after trying the experiment re- 
peatedly with the boatmen and others, we 

always 



( i8 3 ) 

always found the fame refult: what was 
written b they uniformly pronounced v, 
and the contrary. 

About one o'clock on the feventh day 
of our departure from Paris, we arrived on 
the banks of the Garonne oppofite to the 
fine city of Bordeaux. The Garonne unites 
with the Dordogne, the river we had be- 
fore paffed, a few leagues below Bordeaux; 
the river compofed by their junction takes 
the name of La Gironde, whence the name 
of the department. 

Having nothing farther to do with the 
diligence, we were now to part. The lady 
in the male habit was met by her hufband, 
who received her with open arms, and 
thanked the Gafcon for his attentions. Se- 
veral ferry-boats were croffing, into which, 
bidding each other adieu, we ftepped, fuc- 
ceflively as we were ready. For my own 
part, as I do not like trouble, I allowed the 
condu&orto confign me, like a bale of goods, 
N4 to 



( i«4 ) 

to his own hotel. It was the Hotel de Sept 
Freres, Rue de la Petite lntendance % whe- 
ther I was accompanied by the fon of the 

apothecary. 
» 

Distance from Paris to Bordeaux. 





Leagues. 


Miles. 


Paris to Orleans 


2 9 


72f 


Orleans to Blois 


H 


35 


Blois to Tours 


»5 


37* 


Tours to Poitiers 


3° 


75 


Poitiers to Angouleme 


37 


92f 



Angouleme to Bordeaux 39 97! 
164 410 

N. B. In the above table I have taken 
the French league at 2f Englifh miles ; ancj 
the number of leagues at the ordinary com- 
putation. 

Bordeaux 



( iB 5 ) 



Bordeaux 

Is, in population, the fecond, and in com- 
mercial importance, the firft, city of France. 
It contains upwards of 1 1 2,000 inhabitants; 
and is, for an ancient city, built with confi- 
derable regularity and tafte. It refembles 
Ghfgow in Scotland more than any other 
city of Great Britain. There are in fome 
few places flagftones, which are not com- 
monly to be met with in the towns of 
France. The ftreets are, however, in general 
very narrow. 

Bordeaux, on the fide next the river, 
refembles a crefcent. It is divided into 
two parts, the old town or eaftern end, and 
the new town or Chartrons. They are 
divided as it were by an ancient fort called 
Chaleau-trompette. This fort is fo ufelefs 
for any purpofe of defence againft an 

enemy, 



( i86 ) 

enemy, that it has long been in agitation to 
pull it down, in order to beautify the town. 
This might be the more eafily effe&ed that 
the price of the materials would more than 
pay the expence of demolition. From the 
delay, therefore, I conclude that fome rea- 
fons of ftate are operating with the confular 
government in favour of this worthlefs 
building, which is a great nuifance to the 
centre of the city. 

Bordeaux is celebrated throughout the 
world for its famous wines: it is celebrated 
as the chief place of a department, which, 
during the revolution, fent many diftin- 
guifhed deputies to the convention ; and as 
the country of the illuftrious Montefquieu. 
It has infinitely more of the fpirit of free- 
dom and independence than Paris, which 
may be attributed in a confiderable degree . 
to the benignant genius of commerce, here 
fo powerful in its operation. 



In 



( i8 7 ) 

In this city, befide the native inhabitants, 
are a great many foreign merchants, of all 
nations; but principally Englifh, Germans, 
and Americans. They refide for the moft 
part at the Chartrons^ which is the quarter 
moft commodious for bufmefs, as well as 
the moft pleafant to inhabit from better air, 
fuperior views, and more modern architec- 
ture. Here almoft all the confuls of foreign 
nations refide. 

In front of the Chartrons lay the (hip- 
ping, at lead all the veffels that are loading 
or unloading, at Bordeaux. Here the flags 
of almoft all nations were to be feen flying, 
excepting thofe of England and France. I 
fay France, becaufe the veffels belonging to 
that nation were for the moft part difman- 
tled; and if a three-coloured flag was here 
and there hoifted, it was fcarcely diftin- 
guifhable in the crowd. The trade of Bor- 
deaux with foreign countries is at prefent 
carried on principally by means of Hanfe- 

atic. 



(. i88 ) 
atk, Danifh, Swedifh, Pruflian, and Ame- 
rican veflels. But the flag of this latter 
nation predominates. In December there 
were, I am perfuaded, not lefs than from 
thirty to forty American veflels in the river. 
Their fpeculations in coffee, fugar, and 
other colonial articles, were at firft attended 
with confiderable profits; but this attracted 
fo many adventurers, that the markets were 
at length glutted, and the veflels laft ar- 
riving, it was expe&ed, would incur heavy 
lofles. Commerce, as it is carried on by 
the Americans, appears to me in many re- 
fpe&s more like a lottery than as it is carried 
on in England. With us it is a regular 
bufmefs, in which men divide their rifks 
upon given principles, fo that they have a 
certainty of making a profit upon the 
whole. An American will more readily 
ftake every thing on one venture ; and it 
would not feem to be of fo much confe- 
quence to him, whether in the iflue he 
becomes a man of fortune or is ruined. 

The 



( i8 9 ) 

The Chartrons is about three quarters of 
a mile in length, prefenting a regular front 
of well-built houfes. The end next the 
Chateaii-trompette^ proceeding in a ftraight 
line, is diftant about a quarter of a mile from 
the exchange. This ftreet poffefles the 
advantage, uncommon in the cities of 
France, of an excellent trottoir^ or flag- 
ftone pavement at one fide. On the other 
fide are the wharfs. The filling of ( cafks 
with wine, brandy, olives, &c. rolling them 
to and from the wharfs, heading them ; 
the nailing of boxes full of prunes, raifins 
and other fruits, together with the conftant 
noife of people labouring in various voca- 
tions, fill the mind with pleafant ideas of 
active induftry and ufeful commerce. In 
many an irkfome walk which I took along 
the Chartrons ^ during my detention at Bor- 
deaux, the languages which were fpoken on 
all fides, made me fometimes doubtful whe- 
ther I was not in Hamburg or in London, 
rather than in a town of France. 

The 



( '9° ) 



The Exchange 

Is a new building, fituated clofe to the river, 
at the bottom of the Chateau- rouge > which is 
the moft elegant ftreet in Bordeaux. It 
confifts of an oblong fquare, the fides of 
which are fupported by arches. The plan 
of it is in general much admired ; but its 
greater!; peculiarity is an elegant arched roof 
of glafs, by which thofe who are within 
have the benefit of light, without the in- 
convenience of expofure to rain or fnow. 

Over the arches, in the infide, are written 
the names of the different countries of the 
world with which France is fuppofed to be 
in relations of commerce. Even in this 
trivial circumftance, a trait of the national 
vanity appeared fo prominent that it could 
not efcape remark. Among the names of 
the countries which were written over the 
arches, confpicuous places were allotted to 

thofe 



( *9* ) 

thofe of China, Perfia and Japan. Curious 
to fee fome of the merchants of thefe coun- 
tries, I frequently took my ftand under the 
arches which belonged to them ; but with- 
out having in any one inftance met with 
fuccefs. I confoled myfelf for the difap- 
pointment by reflecting that in a century 
hence, fome other traveller may be more 
fortunate. Or perhaps the travellers of that 
sera, in reading thofe infcriptions, may draw 
the inference that, at fome former unknown 
period, the exchange of Bordeaux was fre- 
quented by merchants from China, Perfia, 
and Japan. 

The new exchange is in a centrical fitua- 
tion, within twenty minutes walk of the 
centre of the Chartrons^ and is in every 
refpeft a great acquifition to the town. The 
only fault which is found with the archi- 
tecture, is that the arches are fomewhat too 
fmall in proportion to the fize of the build- 
ing. It has not, I underftand, been finifhed 
at the expence of the government, but of 
8 the 



( *9* ) 

the merchants. There is at one end an in- 
fcription, recording the aera of the building 
to have been in the confulfhip of Bonaparte, 
in the fame terms of fervile flattery by 
which that unfortunate man's mind has been 
for fo many years deluged, and at length 
overthrown. Well might he exclaim, with 
the Roman emperor : "lam tired with the 
adulation of the fenate." 



Allees de Tourni. 

Above the Cbateau-trompette y and clofe 
to the grand theatre, is a pleafant walk, in- 
terfered by rows of trees, where, when the 
weather permits, all the idlers of Bordeaux 
are conftantly walking. This promenade 
fomewhat refembles the Young fernfleig at 
Hamburg, or the Unter- den-Linden at Ber- 
lin ; but is much inferior to both. 

On each fide and at both ends are coffee- 
houfes, where people breakfaft, and take 

coffee 



( 193 ) 

coffee and liqueurs after dinner. In thefe 
coffee-houfes are pofted the mouchards 
(fpies) of the police, to watch thofe who 
pafs up and down the walk, particularly 
ftrangers. 

The French, from their more idle habits, 
neceffarily acquire a greater fhare of curio- 
fity than the Englifh. The neceffity of 
employing the mind, if they have no affairs 
of their own, lead them to feek gratification 
in obtaining a knowledge of the affairs of 
others. When to this acquired difpofition 
is added the zeal arifing from intereft, a 
Frenchman becomes a raoft diligent in- 
quirer; and were his difcretion and judg- 
ment equal to his zeal and fineffe, he would 
be indeed a very formidable fpy. 



Jardin Pubuque. 

At a fmall diftance from the Allies de 

Tourni, toward the Chartrons^ but receding 

O from 



( *94 ) 
from the river, is a very pleafant garden, or 
rather a park, for the ufe of the public. It 
is not indeed equal in variety to the Tuil- 
leries or the Luxembourg ; but it poffeffes 
the advantage of a purer air. This garden 
is very much neglecled ; and you feldom, 
even in fine weather, meet a dozen of people 
in the walks. 

The inhabitants of Bordeaux in general, 
but more efpecially the ladies, do not feem 
to be fond of walking. And if the Allies 
de Tourni be fo much frequented by the 
public, it is becaufe, in going from one end 
of the town to the other, to pafs through 
them is the fhorteft road. 



Half-yearly Fair at Bordeaux. 

At this period the half-yearly fair was 
held at Bordeaux, and a great number of 
ftrangers reformed tp town in confequence. It 

was 



{ *9S ) 

was held principally in a gallery furrounding 
the exchange, which it overlooks. Almoft 
every article of merchandife was dearer 
here than it could be bought at any other 
time, of in any other place ; but there was 
a great (hew of goods* and a great affem- 
blage of people. The French are fond of 
all kinds of fhews ; and a fair is of that 
nature. The confular government has of 
late taken great pains to multiply thefe 
{hews throughout the republic. 

Gaming-houses. 

During the continuance of the fair, which 
is twenty or twenty-five days, licenfed 
gambling-booths are conftantly open along 
the river fide, to which failors, watermen, 
and others of the lower orders of the people 
refort to lofe their money. I went into 
thefe booths, in order to obferve what was 
going on ; but all the fenfes were too much 
O 2 fhocked 



( »96 ) 

fhocked to be able to remain for any time 
in them ; befide a man of decent drefs and 
appearance is flared at as a ftrange animal ; 
and if, in addition to this, he has the mif- 
fortune of being recognifed as an Englifh- 
man, it would be imprudent in him, at a 
moment like the prefent, to delay making a 
retreat. 

There are gaming-houfes of a higher 
order, to which the more genteel people 
refort. The vice of gaming is extremely 
common in France. Even women frequent 
thefe houfes ; and for that purpofe often 
drefs in men's cloaths. In that drefs they 
alfo frequently go to the theatres. A man 
accuftomed to frequent the play-houfes, 
upon his entrance generally looks round to 
fee whether his neighbours be male or 
female. To afcertain this, he does not 
think of looking at the drefs ; but at the 
hair, breads, fingers (to fee whether there 
be rings), and the general fhape and air; if 

there 



( 797 ) 

there be any doubt he attends alfo to the 
voice and manner. 

In the coffee-houfes at Bordeaux, the 
whole converfation at breakfaft (and the 
people talk a great deal) is refpe&ing who 
has loft and who has won the night before 
at the gaming tables ; who has made a 
good, and who a bad, ftroke ; who has been 
broke himfelf, or who has broke the bank. 

The hero, in one of the coffee-houfes 
which I ufed to frequent, Le Cqffe Ameri~ 
cain Francois, was a lock-fmith, (unferru- 
rier,) who had abandoned his profeffion 
and become gamefter. He loft and won 
hundreds of a night, and repeatedly broke 
the bank*. 

In thefe banks they never place more 
than a certain fum at a time, (from 15 to 
20,000 livres perhapSj or from 700/. to 

* Fairefauter la banque is the technical expreffion. 

O 3 1000/.,) 



( *93 ) 

xooo/.,} fo that they may be frequently 
broke without being finally ruined. 

It appears that, other things being equal, 
people are inclined to gaming in proportion 
as they are idle. In England and Holland 
there is not much of this vice. In Germany 
there is a good deal; but billiards and whift, 
which do not depend upon chance, are the 
favourite games. In France, playing, par- 
ticularly in reipeft to games of chance, is 
pradtifed with a higher degree of ardour 
than I have feen in any other country, ex- 
cepting perhaps among the Malays in the 
Eaft Indies. When a Malay has loft all his 
property, he will fell his wife and children; 
a Frenchman will fell his clothes ; if, after 
that, their affairs bejcome irretrievable, the 
one will run a mucky the other will drown, 
himfelf. 

A Frenchman is furprifed to find a man 
who does not play at any game ; but he is 

utterly 



( 199 ) 

utterly aftonifhed to find any one who holds 
gaming in abhorrence. 

The miferable efTeels of this vice, which 
the French government converts into a 
fource of revenue, have been fo often in- 
filled upon, that fcarcely any thing new can 
now be added on the fubjecl. I have, 
however, heard inftances related at Bor- 
deaux, which, as I do not recoiled: to have 
feen fimilar ones any where ftated, it may 
be ufeful to lay before the public. 

The fupercargo of an American fhip was 
enticed to a gaming table, without having 
any knowledge of, or at firftrnuch inclination 
to, play. At the commencement he adven- 
tured moderately, and loft of courfe. His 
defire to regain what he had loft prompted 
him to hazard more and more, until at 
length, having made a great encroachment 
on the cargo entrufted to his charge^ he be- 
came defperate, and determined to retrieve 
his lories, or to rifk the whole. To make 
O 4 a long 



( 200 ) 

a long ftory fhort, he loft the cargo ; an<^ 
in order to have a chance of recovering it, 
rifqued the fhip. In this he had no better 
luck than before. Both fhip and cargo 
being gone, how was he to face the owners ? 
It was impoffible for him to return to Ame- 
rica, It was no lefs impoffible to live in 
France without the means of fubfiftence. 
Suicide, the laft refuge of the unfortunate, 
was his only alternative : and thus he ex- 
piated a crime, occafioned by no radical 
propenfity to vice in his nature, but by a 
gradual progreffion in imprudence, under 
the baneful influence of treachery and bad 
example. 

I have alfo heard feveral inftances related 
of young men, travelling on the continent 
for mercantile houfes in England, who were 
enfnared into this pra&ice, in confequence 
of aflbciating with bad company, male or 
female ; and were the caufes of much lofs, 
and in fome cafes of even utter ruin, to their 
employers. From the whole, I conclude 

that 



( 201 ) 

tliat there is not, in human fociety, a vice 
jnore dangerous, or perhaps more attractive,, 
than that of gaming. 



Hotels, Table-d'Hotes, and Re- 
staurateurs. 

The taverns were quite full owing to the 
fa'r. In that in which I lived, I was obliged 
to fleep in a double-bedded room, where I 
had a conftant fucceffion of companions ; 
and fometimes two flept in the fecond bed. 
This, although I bore it for fome time out 
of complaifance to the people of the houfe, 
and from reluctance to change, was ex- 
tremely difagreeable to me ; but the con- 
ducl: of two friends, who flept in the next 
bed, and were in other refpe&s genteel and 
pleafanc men, having excited fufpicions of 
a horrid nature in my mind, I declared, 
without however mentioning my reafons, 
that, if they did notgive me a fingle-bedded 
room, I would not fleep another night in 

the 



( 202 ) 

the houfe. The landlady, unwilling to lofe 
an Englifh cuftomer, contrived to effect an 
exchange, by which means I was left in 
folitude to enjoy my own reflections. It 
was truly an enjoyment : for, independent 
of the difagreeable ideas occafioned by the 
circumilance I have ftated, every one of 
my companions found means, however 
unintentionally, of difturbing me, fome 
by unfeafonable converfation, fome by 
whittling or humming tunes, and all of 
them by coming home at a very late hour 
of the night from mafked balls, or other 
kinds of amufement. On this, as on other 
occafions, I have remarked that Frenchmen, 
with all the exterior marks of politenefs, are, 
in effecT:, as felfifh a people as any on the 
globe, if it be felfifhnefs to confult their own 
convenience almoft exclufively. 

The expence of living for a ftranger in 
Bordeaux, calculating at a moderate rate, 
may be from eight to ttn Ilvres a day, or 
from 6<f. %d. to 8/. 4^., independent of 

5 p ]a y- 



( 20 3 ) 

play-houfe, mafquerade, and other ex- 
pences, which are not abfolutely neceffary ; 
namely three or four livres, including a 
bottle of good Bordeaux wine or claret, for 
dinner ; three livres for lodging ; one livre 
for breakfafl; and from half a livre to a 
livre for coffee, liqueurs, and other trifles of 
that kind. The hotels, of which there are 
a great number, are in general as good, if 
not better, than thofe of Paris ; and lodg- 
ings are far more reafonable. In molt of 
the hotels, a table d'hote is kept, where 
you can dine very well for three livres, in- 
cluding as much wine as you can drink. 
But moft people prefer dining at a rejiaura- 
teurs^ although they cannot dine fo well for 
the fame money. In France generally, fince 
the revolution, table d*kotes have become 
lefs numerous for the fame reafon that 
rejlaurateurs have increafed. At the former, 
you affociate with a very mixed company ; 
are obliged to dine at a certain hour, and 
have not a choice of difhes or of converfa- 
jion. At the latter, you may choofe your 

company, 



( f*t ) 
company, or fit alone, a very great advan- 
tage in France frnce the revolution, and 
particularly at the prefent moment, when a 
ftranger is fure to be furrounded on all 
quarters by fpies ; you can dine at any hour 
you pleafe from two to fix, and have a 
choice of dimes. 

For refidents, as they know the company 
who frequent them, Tables d' 'botes may be 
preferable ; but to ftrangers I would recom- 
mend the Rejlaurateurs. At Bordeaux that 
of the Tourni is the moll frequented. 



Theatres. 

In this town there are three large, and 
feveral fmall theatres. Le Grand Theatre^ 
fituated at one extremity of the walk or 
alley de Tcurny , and clofe to the Exchange, 
is a very fine building, fcarcely inferior to 
the firft theatres of London or Paris. Here 

Made* 



( 2o 5 ) 
MademotfclU Contat played, during the fai* 
weeks, to crowded and admiring audiences. 
I was forry to remark that this charming 
aftrefs has augmented fo much in bulk, 
that her figure diminifhes confiderably the 
effect, which her talents are otherwife ca- 
pable of producing. 

In ordinary times, the receipts of the 
theatres of Bordeaux muft be fmall : for 
the failures of the managers have, for a long 
time, been periodical. Toward the end 
of November, le Grand Theatre and le 
Theatre Francois were opened under the 
aufpices of a new adminiftration. It was 
propofed to dimmifh the price of entrance, 
for the firft places, from fix livres to three ; 
and fo in proportion for the reft. The 
prices as formerly fixed were certainly too 
high for a town like Bordeaux; and this 
might be one of the principal caufes of the 
frequent failures of the managers. Upon 
thefe occafions, the a£tors \les artijles) were 
obliged to take the management into their 

own 



( 206 ) 

own hands; and it was remarked that the 
public were at thofe times better ferved. 
There are no very celebrated actors at Bor- 
deaux. Mademoifellc Clair vilh is held in 
great efteem as a finger. 

Le Theatre Francois is next in fize to le 
Grand Theatre. It is alfo fituated near the 
Tourni, in a ftreet called I believe La Rue 
du Theatre Francois. Both theatres are 
under the management of the fame admi- 
niftration, and the fame fet of adors play 
at them alternately. They are confequently 
open only every fecond night. 

Le Theatre de Moliere is fmaller in fize, 
and fituated in a more obfcure part of the 
town. The price of admiffion is more 
moderate ; and for that reafon 1 prefume it 
is generally better filled than the other 
theatres which have been mentioned. At 
the theatre of Moliere melo-dramas are 
much in fafhion. One of thofe I faw was 
entitled les Brigands de la Calabre y ou la 

Foret 



( 2o 7 ) 

Fcret perilleufe. This extravagant produc- 
tion, full of poifonings, affaffinations, and 
other monftrous proceedings is from the pen 
of Loifel Theogat. Beaujolais, the mana- 
ger of this theatre, is a good a&or, and per- 
haps the only good one of the troop; but he 
does not often play. 

Les Charlonniers de la Foret noire, ano- 
ther melo-drama of the Vaudeville kind, 
alfo attracts many fpeclators : for my own 
part, the evolutions of the foldiers of the gar- 
rifon, fuppofed to reprefent German fol- 
diers, appeared to me the beft, or the only 
tolerable, part of the performance. Judging 
from the reprefentations at this theatre, a 
ftranger would be apt to think that Frarfce 
was a large foreft, containing nothing but 
brigands and foldiers. 

But if he goes to the theatre called La 
Gaite de Tourni, he will perceive that there 
are inhabitants of another kind. This is 
the rallying point of the frail fifterhood ; 

at 



( 208 ) 

at leaft of thofe who make of frailty a pro- 
feflion 5 and of ccurfe a rendezvous for fea- 
faring people and idlers of every kind. The 
prices are very low, and the adtors and the 
pieces low in proportion j but the houfe is 
generally overflowing. 



Masqued Balls, 

The fair is a kind of carnival at Bor- 
deaux. There were almoft every evening 
mafqued balls at fonie of the hotels, coffee- 
houfes, or public rooms ; the price of ad- 
miflion is ufually from two to three livres 
for each perfon, and five livres for a lady 
and gentleman. Thefe afTemblies were ge- 
nerally compofed of motely groups ; chiefly 
military men, feafaring men, and country 
dealers and fhop- keepers. Very few genteel 
people went to them ; and when they 
did, they were generally unmafked. Cha- 
racters were not wanting, but they were 

for 



( 2o 9 ) 

for the moft part very miferably fuftainedo 
The ebullitions of that genuine humour, 
which diftinguifties Englifhmen, and which 
is fo eflential to the fpirit of a rnafquerade, 
was totally wanting, and would not have 
been tmderflood. The only part ©f a 
French rnafquerade deferring of praife i« 
the dancing. 



Officers of the Army, 

Dining in company with a gentleman of 
Bruffels, and a young friend of his, who 
was on the eve of leaving France, in crdet 
to avoid the military confcription, the offi- 
cers of a demi- brigade, on their march from 
Bayonne* to Breft, came to dine at another 

table, 

* About this period, the army which had been 
affembled at Bayonne, for the purpofe of intimidating 
Spain and Portugal, was difbanded, and the troops 
were marching through Bordeaux, toward the channel. 
On their arrival at this city there was no money in the 
P treafury 



( 2IO ) 

table, in the fame room with us. At fifft 
I fuppofed from their drefs, but much more 
from their behaviour, that they were only 
common fokliers. '* No," faid my com- 
panion, who was a man of wit and good- 
breeding, and enjoyed formerly a title and 
an eftate, " they are all officers, but they 
have evidently rifen from the ranks, with 
the exception of that young man, whom 
you fee edging toward us, afhamed I pre- 
iume of the vulgar conduct of his com- 
panions." The young man alluded to 
placed faimfelf at the corner of the table 
next to us ; and we found, from his con- 
verfation, that the conjecture was right 
The reft of the officers, to the number often 
or twelve, had placed themfelves at table 

treafury to pay their arrears, which occafioned a great 
deal of difcontent among the troops. It was reported 
feveral weeks before, that, at Bayorme, fome of the 
corps had broke out into acts of open infurrection. 
And, although it was difficult to ascertain the exa£t 
truth of this affair, it appeared very certain that fome 
blood had been fpilr. 

before 



( 2" ) 

before the commandant bad made his ap- 
pearance. When he entered, they all got 
up to make room for him, and to hand him 
a chair, with a fhew of humble fubmiffion, 
•which it would be repugnant to the feelings 
of any commanding officer of a Britiih 
army to receive. " Don't difturb yourfelves 
for me, citizens," faid he, throwing himfelf 
into a chair with his hat on, and wiping 
the fweat from his brows, " 1 don't require 
much room." He was a fhort, fat, greafy, 
vulgar looking man, fuch as I have often fi- 
gured to myfelf of Henriot, the commandant 
of Paris in the time of Robefpierre. They 
haftened to hand him a plate of foup. The 
firft fpoonful he took up was too hot, and 
he began to blow into it with all his might £ 
as children do to cool their broth. During 
the repaft, he and his companions performed 
feveral evolutions of equal elegance, fuch as 
picking their teeth with a fork, &c. and 
their converfation was nearly as edifying as 
their manners were refined. 

P 2 As 



C 2!2 ) 

As we walked out of the room I laid : 
^ h this a fair fpecimen of your officers,— 
of the legljlaiors you are going to fend to 
Great Britain ? " A pen pres % ^ % faid he, 
u You know that, with the exception of 
officers of high rank, or diftinguifhed merit, 
our military men of the prefent day in 
France are not received into genteel com- 
pany. It is even reckoned difgraceful for 
a young man of family and education to 
accept a challenge from a common officer 
{unc milk aire)" 

But don't you admit that they are able 
in their profeffion ? u Thofe men who 
have been raifed from the ranks, and have ■ 
had no education, may make good ferjeants, 
or even tolerable fubaltern officers. But it 
is very rarely that men of this defcription 
are found to command with diftinguifhed 
merit on a larger fcale, Almoft all the 
officers, who have rifen to eminence, even 

* Almoft. 

during 



( 213 ) 

during the moll eqtialifmg period of the 
revolution, had, in the early part of life f 
received a liberal education ; and I may 
cite Bonaparte and Moreau as fplendid 
proofs of what I advance. In fad, ought 
we not to expect more valour and honour 
from men of fuperior education, indepen- 
dent of the incalculable advantages which 
education otherwife confers ? Experience 
being fuppofed equal, I conceive it impof- 
fible that the ignorant and illiterate foldier, 
promoted from the ranks for fome accidental 
trait of valour, can, in the capacity of an 
officer, equal a man of education, excepting 
when he is excited by a peculiar fanaticifm. 
In our revolution, the fanaticifm was, for a 
while, general, and produced general effe&s. 
But even then, it very often happened that, 
in the elevation of privates to the rank of 
officers, the greatefi boafter was miftaken 
for the braveft man, and advanced over the 
heads of thofe who w-ere more modeft and 
deferving. What better, indeed, could have 
been expected from thofe, who were then 
P 3 the 



( 2i 4 ) 

the judges of merit ? I conclude, that it is 
better to appoint men of education to the 
rank of officers even by chance, than to 
promote the ignorant and illiterate by fe- 
le&ion. 



The Shoeblack Pawnbroker. 

Such curious combinations of chara&era 
as in France are, I believe, no where elfe to 
be met with. Going to the Grand Theatre, 
with a young Frenchman, I obferved a 
youth of decent appearance, after having 
had his boots cleaned, by a fhoeblack on 
the fteps, give him his watch, and. receive 
fome money from him in return. " What 
can be the meaning cf this ?" faid I to my 
companion. Cette artijle dtcrotteur (that 
artift fhoeblack), my dear Sir, has the 
cuftom of mod of the young men of this 
place. When they wifh to go to the play 5 
l}iaftjued ball, or any other fpecies of aniufe-* 

mentj 



( **5 ) 

merit, and have no money in their pockets, 
they have recouffe to him for affiftance. 
He lends them whatever fum they have im- 
mediate occafion for, upon receiving a cane, 
a pocket-handkerchief, a ring, a watch, or 
any other pledge as a fecurity for repay- 
ment. If he has already had experience of 
the integrity of the parties, he will even 
accommodate them without exacting any 
guarantee. But this mark of confidence is 
bellowed upon very few. 

I am not fure whether this artift Ihoe- 
black pawnbroker does not alfo occafionally 
exercife the profeffion of a pimp. Certain 
it is, that he is in great reputation and 
practice among the youth of Bordeaux. 
Whether from gratitude, expectation, or 
curiofity, moft of the young men fefort to 
him to have their boots cleaned, in pre- 
ference to any other. He is already fuf- 
ficiently rich to retire from bufinefs ; but 
his fituation gives him an influence in fo- 
P 4 ciety 



( 216 ) 

ciety which he would with reludance re- 
nounce. 

English Merchants erased from 
the List of Prisoners. 

Toward the end of November, General 
Avril, commandant of the nth military 
divifion, ordered the Englifh, who were 
confidered as prifoners of war, but allowed 
to remain at Bordeaux, to appear before 
him, in order to revife their permiffions, 
paflports, and ether papers. 

At the fame time the following Englifh 
merchants were erafed from the lift of pri-^ 
foners by order of government : Hugh 
Kellker, Hugh Wilfon, Alexander Peterfon, 
Chriftopher Martin, Hamden Evans, junior, 

* Bianchard, Thomas Walker, William 

Key, George Perrier, and Anthony Moore. 

Enpush 



( «7 ) 



English Physicians. 

Before and during the revolution, there 
were feveral Englifh phyficians at Bor- 
deaux. Of thefe only two now remain ; 
and they have fcarcely fufficient practice to 
maintain them. During the reign of terror, 
they were all put in requifition to ferve 
with the armies of the republic. One of 
them ferved a long time with the army of 
Dugomier in Spain. 



Religion and the Churchy 

I vifited the churches at Bordeaux ; but 
law no difference between them and thofe 
of the capital. The congregations confifted 
principally of old women and their grand- 
children, who were fent becaufe they were 
too troublefome to their mothers at home. 
Jn France, women pail the age of forty are, 

perhaps, 



( 218 ) 

perhaps, more devout than women of the 
fame age, in any other quarter of the globe. 
They are alfo more addicted to fnuffing. 
Might I venture to hazard the explication 
of thefe phenomena, is it not that when 
the charms, which excite admiration, and 
procure lovers (in the French acceptation Gf 
the word) begin to fade, it becomes necef- 
fary to fubftitute other modes of employing 
their time and their faculties ? The French 
ladies (I am forry when truth obliges me 
to withhold praife from any portion of the 
faireft part of the creation), particularly 
thofe accuftorned to the diffipation of large 
cities, endeavour as much as poffible to 
avoid having many children, and, when 
they cannot fucceed in their endeavours, 
take as little trouble as poffible in fuper- 
intending their education. Thus being in- 
capable of domeftic employment, when 
they attain the age at which lovers begin 
to drop off, they very naturally have re- 
courfe to the ftimulus of ratafie, and the 
eonfolations of religion > for fuppor*:. " They 

repent 



( 2I 9 ) 

repent and pray, when they can no longer 
fin." I muft, however, do them the juftice 
to fay, that they are not fo catholic as the 
ipatrons of fome other countries, in paying 
their devotions to the effence of Coniac. 

Whatever degree of truth there may be 
in this reafoning, the fad: is, that in the 
Jarge towns of France, old women and 
children only are obferved to frequent the 
churches : nor has the formality of reftoring 
religion, by treaty, effeded any fenfible 
change in this refpe£t. Every one knows 
the powerful effect of fympathy. When 
religion was perfecuted, more perfons were 
perhaps defireous of going to church, than 
fincc it has been tolerated ; and more, when 
it was only tolerated, than fince it has been 
oftentatioufly patronifed. It was not, how- 
ever, the increafe of religion, or the filling 
of churches, that Bonaparte had in view ; 
it was the increafe of patronage, and the 
favour of the church, Robefpierre would 
have concluded probably in the fame man- 
ner. 



( 220 ) 

tier* After the grand meaftire of achiow- 
hdging the Supreme Being, he would in 
due time have proceeded to reinftate the 
pope, and afterwards by degrees to the ap- 
pointment of bifhops, and all the ftlbor- 
dinate members of the clergy. 

The ftate of religion and the church of 
France would fupply matter capable of it- 
felf of filling a moderate volume. Without 
entering fo deeply into the fubjecl, I will 
make a few obfervations, which, although 
in themfelves fufficiently obvious, may be 
not of an uninterefting nature to thofe who 
have not vifited. France, The great power 
of the church in that country, before the 
revolution, arofe from its immenfe property. 
Bonaparte, as he cannot reftare this, can 
never reftore the influence of the clergy 
over the people: they muft be indebted to 
himfelf for all their income. Thus the 
poverty and fubferviency of the church 
will render it, as a profeffion, an objecT: not 
worthy the attention of any one who has 

profpe&a 



( 221 ) 

profpe&s beyond thofe of a day-labourer* 
Accordingly, no refpe&able families in 
France, as far as I have been able to learn, 
have, fince the restoration of religion, as it 
is called, fent their fons to be educated for 
the church. 

But there are not, at this moment, more 
priefts in orders than are fufficient to oc- 
cupy the places created for them by the con* 
cordat Very few of thefe are lefs than 
forty years of age, and moll of them are 
very old men, who cannot be expe&ed to 
live long, according to the ufua! courfe of 
nature. From whence, then, are the vacan- 
cies, which will arife, to be filled up ? It 
is evident that, unlefs Bonaparte can con- 
trive fome means of converting conferipts 
into priefts, the members who die will be 
replaced unworthily, or not replaced at all. 



Ships 



( 222 ) 



Skips coming from New York per- 
form Quarantine. 

I have known American mips, arriving 
from New York, obliged to perform quar- 
antine, or to do penance, in the river of Bor- 
deaux. They are diftinguimed by a yel- 
low flag at the fore- top-gallant maft head. 
This difcipline, which, from my opinions 
refpeding contagion, appears , to me a per- 
fect farce, may to others appear a very ne- 
ceffary formality. On thefe occafions an 
officier de fante goes on board, and examines 
at a diftance the countenances of the crew, 
to afcertain whether any of them are af- 
feded with a contagious diforder. If this 
officer of health finds that one or two are 
afFeded with any malady having the fmall- 
eft refemblance to yellow-fever, all the reft 
of the crew are obliged to remain on board 
during the period for which quarantine is 

ufually 



( **S ) 

ufually performed. If none of them have 
any marked fymptoms of fever, they are 
allowed, after three or four days, to have 
communication with the fliore. 

This is a kind of duty to which the of- 
ficers of health at Bordeaux have not been 
much accuftomed. The commerce of that 
town with America has increafed to fo 
great a degree only during the laft years ; 
and the yellow-fever has not conftandy 
exifted in that country ; fo that thefe pre- 
cautions, even according to the commonly 
received notions of contagion, have feldom 
beenneceffary. 

The firft time the farce was to be per- 
formed this feafon, the officer of health, 
who was to repair on board, fet off with 
his imagination full of contagious matter, 
expe&ing to meet with nothing but human 
fpeclres tinged with a deep yellow, walking 
the decks. But what was his furprife to 
find, when the crew were muftered, that 
5 every 



( %H ) 
every one of them looked healthier than 
himfelf. " Mon Dieu, captain," faid he, 
" your people look better than ours do a- 
fhore. You do not appear to have any 
mere contagion than they have." " No, by 
G-d, do&or, nor half fo much," replied the 
captain. " But if you come on board a fort- 
night hence, mayhap you'll find more." 



Military Conscription. 

The law, which enacts that two thirds 
of the population of France, from twenty 
to five-and-twenty years of age, fhall be 
ballotted for to ferve in the armies of the 
republic, was palTed in the time of the di- 
rectory, in the year fix or [even. But as 
two thirds of this defcription of perfons are 
ballotted for every year, it is evident that a 
complete third of thofe who have attained 
their twentieth year only are exempted* 
Thofe of that age exempted the fir ft year 
being included in the lift of the fecond 

year, 



( 22 5 ) 
year, and fo on to the age of twenty-five, 
very few of them can efcape ferving. 

This remarkable law, whether we con- 
fider it in its effe&s on the people of France, 
or of Europe, is equally replete with mif- 
chief. When all the nations of Europe 
were armed againft French principles, the 
neceffity of felf-defence might have juftified 
the adoption of fuch a meafure : but now 
that France is in arms againft the indepen- 
dence of all the nations of Europe, the 
means originally adopted for felf-defence 
are, in the hands of a tyrant, converted into 
means of univerfal deftruction. 

Thus almoft the whole population of 
France and Italy, from twenty to twenty- 
five years of age, are placed at the difpofal 
of the government. From 800,000 to a 
million of foldiers are raifed, and at this 
very moment, preparing to attempt the 
overthrow of the liberties and the inde- 
pendence of Europe. The confequence 
Q^ will 



( 226 ) 

will be that Europe, in order to defend thofe 
liberties and that independence, will find it 
neceflary to have recourfe to a military con- 
fcription alfo. 

The terrible effect of this ftate of things, 
mull be to withdraw an immenfe propor- 
tion of the population of Europe from ufe- 
ful induftry, in order to train them to the 
art of war. But young men, after being 
occupied in a military capacity for a number 
of years, will not be fit to return to thofe 
nfeful occupations, which they had been 
obliged to relinquish ; a circumftance which 
cannot fail to occafion an innumerable train 
of evils : and there does not feem to be the 
fmalleft chance of putting a flop to thefe 
calamities, while the prefent ruler of France 
remains in power, unlefs he fhould think fit, 
a thing siot to be expected according to the 
ufual order of nature, all at once to mode- 
rate his ambition, and to reftrain his views 
of aggrandifement. 

This 



( 227 ) 

This law has, particularly of late, frotn 
the manner of its execution, become ex- 
tremely odious. It was at one time refifted 
with open force ; but feveral hundred young 
men having fallen a facrifice to this re*- 
fiftance, the reft were obliged to fubmit. 
They were forced to acquiefce in the mod 
fhameful partiality and injuftice in the 
mode of drawing lots. At prefent it is 
regarded as a two-edged weapon, in the 
hands of the government, by which they 
can raife both foldiers and money. The fon 
of a rich man may be exempted, if the 
father confents to pay 1500 or 2000 livres, 
and is a friend of the government befide. 
But it is in vain that a poor man folicits 
exemption, under any circumftance, even if 
he has a wife and a large family of chil- 
dren. I recollect an inftance, which came 
within my own obfervation, of fatal effe&s 
from the lot falling upon a young married 
man. While vifiting a patient, laft fummer, 
in the Rue de Lille , I was informed that a 
woman in the neighbourhood, had, that 
Qj2 morning, 



( 228 ) 

morning, fainted away, upon hearing that 
the lot had fallen upon her fon ; and that 
fhe never recovered. He was her only 
child ; was married to a beautiful young 
woman, and had already a family of three 
children. Upon making particular enquiry, 
I found that the circumftances, as they were 
related to me, were ftri&ly true. If thefe 
occurrences had happened in England, they 
would have been faithfully recorded in all 
the newfpapers, and known to the whole 
country; but if any Parifian journalift had 
ventured to ftate even the outlines of them, 
he would have been fent immediately to 
Cayenne. I doubt whether any perfon in 
Paris, who did not happen to be in the Rue 
de Lille that morning, ever heard of this 
fad. 

The authorifed murders committed laft 
year, by the military on the confcripts in 
the fedions of Paris, were fo {lightly men- 
tioned in the newfpapers as to conceal from 
the public an exact knowledge of the num- 
ber 



( 22 9 ) 

ber of lives that were loft upon the occafion. 
A circumftance -hat happened at Angers 
on the 1 6th of November, an account 
of which I have copied from one of the 
departmental journals, fhews that the oppo- 
fition of the confcripts had by no means 
ceafed in confequence of the feverity with 
which thofe of Paris had been treated :-»— 
" Some young men of the department des 
Deux Sevres, in the arrondiffement of Cha- 
tillon, led by perfidious faggejlions, have 
dared to enter, armed, into the commune 
of Ifernay, in the arrondiffement of Beau- 
preau, and to make an appeal to the con- 
fcripts of the years n and 12 5 but the 
inhabitants of Ifernay fhut their houses, 
and were deaf to the voice of revolt. The 
lieutenant of Gendarmerie, Rofier, com- 
mandant at Beaupreau, being informed of 
this rebellion, repaired to Ifernay with fuch 
brigades as he could colledt. At his ap- 
proach, the young men returned to their 
department ; fixteen were, arretted, and the 
reft difperfed. Lieutenant Rofier and his 
Qj troop 



( *3© ) 
troop difplayed the greateft zeal and acti- 
vity. Upon the firft intelligence, the pre- 
fect himfelf, accompanied by the fub-pre- 
feds of Beaupreau and of Segre, went to 
Chemille and afterwards to Cholet, in order 
to take, on the fpot, the meafures that might 
be rendered neceffary by circumftances, and 
to fecond the movements of the Gendar- 
merie" (This was the official account.) 

Every man acquainted with the adual Hate 
of France, will conclude, from the terms of 
the above ftatement, that the mod eflential 
fads, fuch as the number of lives that were 
loft, and the number of perfons wounded, 
are very carefully fupprefled. From fome 
fmall knowledge of their policy in. this 
refped, I can aflure thofe who are not ac- 
quainted with it, that, in the prefent in- 
fiance, the lofs muft have been very confi- 
derable before the tumult was appeafed. 

Many young men, particularly from the 
new departments* have left their country, 

rather 



( *3* I 

rather than be fubje&ed to the confcription 
laws. Others endeavour to conceal them- 
felves, and to evade compliance. But their 
utmoft pains are ineffectual ; for they are 
fure to be fooner or latter difcovered. The 
number that has deferted is almoft incre- 
dible. I faw lifts of them, before the war, 
with defcriptions of their perfons, amount- 
ing, at that time, to many thoufands ; and, 
from thefe lifts, I conclude that the number 
of confcript deferters, from the whole re- 
public and its dependencies, cannot, at this 
moment, amount to lefs than from forty to 
fixty thoufand men. Such of them as had 
the misfortune to be difcovered, were con- 
figned to certain depots, from whence they 
were to be fent, as a punifhment, to the 
colonies. But fince France has no longer 
accefs to her colonies, the mode of punifh- 
ment mull be changed. 

For feveral months previous to my quit- 
ting Paris, it was impoffible to walk the 
ftreets without meeting dozens of confcripts, 
QA in 



( *S* ) 

in their labouring jackets, as they had been 
forced from their occupations, hand-cu£ed 
and dragged to prifon, each between two 
foldiers. They all had the appearance of 
men, who confidered themfelves as going to 
certain flaughter, excepting fuch as, in order 
to drown their forrow, had fwallowed 
liquor enough to produce intoxication. 

The number of deferters had become fo 
great by the beginning of December, that 
the government found it neceffary to iffue 
a decree, which was in facl; a general am- 
nefty. Of that decree the following are the 
principal difpofitions : 

" Commiffaries at war, prefe&s andfub- 
prefe&s, are authorfed to deliver feuilles de 
route for the regiment of infantry, neareft 
to the place of their refidence, to every in- 
dividual in a ftate of defertion, who fhall 
appear before them by the loth of Nivofe 
(ift of January) next, and fhall declare that 
he is willing to refume his fervice. As foon 

as 



( 233 ) 

as he fhall be incorporated in the regiment 
he fhall have joined, the profecutions com- 
menced againft him, in that which he has 
quitted, fhall ceafe. 

" Every foldier who fhall not, before the 
15th of Nivofe (5th of January) next, have 
joined fome corps of infantry of the army, 
fhall, at that epoch, be tried and punifhed 
according to the arrete of the 19th of Ven- 
demiaire (nth of Oftober). No fpecial 
council of war fhall be formed before the 
15th of Nivofe (the 5th of January)." 

Thefe fads indicate with fufficient clear- 
nefs the extent of mifery produced by the 
military confcription, as it is at prefent ex- 
ecuted in France. 

Thofe who are fond of confidering laws 
abftracledly, or without reference to the 
particular circumftances under which they 
are applied, may think the French confcrip- 
tion as juflifiable as the preffing of feamen 

in 



( 234 ) 

in England. But men who reafon in this 
manner, do not feem to me to reflect that, 
without the right of prefling feamen enjoyed 
by our government, they would not have 
the power of defending fo completely our 
independence againft external enemies; and 
that it is infinitely better to acquiefce in a 
partial violation of our internal freedom, 
than to run the fmalleft rifk of lofing our 
external independence, which would carry 
with it the lofs of all our liberties. Our re- 
lative pofition in Europe, then, demands 
unequivocally this partial violation, in order 
to enfure, with lefs inconvenience and ex- 
pence, our fafety from the attacks of ex- 
ternal foes : and I fhould applaud his 
fpirit rather than his wifdom, who fhould 
advife the diminution in any fliape of our 
moft popular means of defence. This point 
is, or ought to be, at this day, well and ge- 
nerally underftood \ at leaft no man in 
England probably would venture, under the 
prefent circumftanees of Europe, to repro- 
bate the right of preffing, or the propriety 
i of 



( ns ) 

of ufing it. What has been faid, on this 
fubjecT:, by Junius and Mr. Juftice For Iter, 
is worth a thoufand abftra£t ipeculations ; 
and is well worthy the attentive perufal of 
thofe, who may have ftill doubts remaining 
with refpeft either to the legality of the 
meafure generally, or the neceflity of it in 
the actual pofition of Great Britain with 
refpe£t to the other nations of Europe, 



Bateaux Plats, Chaloupes Can-, 
nonieres, and peniches. 

At Bordeaux a hundred and eighty vef- 
fels of different kinds, intended for the ex- 
pedition againft England, were upon the 
ftocks. As one was finiflied and launched 
it was replaced by another. They were 
difpatched to Havre in dozens, as they were 
ready, in order to proceed from thence to 
the general rendezvous at Boulogne. At 
one time building was fufpended, both at 

Bordeaux 



( m ) 

Bordeaux and Bayonne, becaufe there was 
no money in the treafury to pay the work- 
men. It was, however, afterwards re- 
fumed. 

The original plan, there is reafon to be- 
lieve, was to collect two thoufand gun- 
boats, flat-bottomed boats, and pinnaces, of 
different fizes, capable of tranfporting 
200,000 men, in the port of Boulogne. 
Thefe have been conftru&ing in various 
parts of the republic ; but, from want of 
hands, want of money, and the difficulty of 
eluding the vigilance of our cruizers, 
not above feven or eight hundred have yet 
arrived at the general rendezvous. Their 
paffage, it is thought, would be rendered 
ftill more difficult, if thefe eruizers confifled 
almoft folely of flat-bottomed gun-boats, 
capable of approaching the more, but hav- 
ing the fupport of larger veffels at hand. 
This indeed is partly the principle of the 
plan which has been adopted for that fer- 

vice ; 



( *37 ) 

vice ; but, in the execution, it does not feem 
to have been carried to a fufficieat ex- 
tent. 

Strangers to the facility with which the 
French people deceive themfelves, will 
readily expecl: that the dock-yards of the 
river Seine are fomething grand and im- 
pofing beyond example. When I left 
Paris, there were about fifty flat-bottomed, 
boats, as they called them, on the flocks* 
In their conftru&ion, there did not feem, 
to the eye of the landfman, any remarkable 
peculiarity. Their bottoms indeed were 
fomewhat more flat than ordinary ; but not 
fo much fo as to merit the appellation they 
had obtained. The largeft of them were 
from eighty to a hundred tons burthen ; 
but if the accounts, refpecting the fize of 
the gun-boats lately taken by two of our 
frigates, be true, much larger vefTels muft 
have been built in other parts of the re- 
public. See Note (c). 

The 



( 2 3 8 ) 

The dock-yards of Paris reminded me 
much of thofe of the fifhing village of 
Blankanefe, in the dutchy of Holftein. But 
I have feen crowds of old Frenchmen on 
the banks of the Seine, who had probably 
never feen even a fifhing village, Hand in a 
kind of exftacy admiring this wonderful 
portion of the national flotilla. Cc Moti 
Dieu /" exclaimed one of them, " comment 
cjl il pofible que V Angleterre peut rejijler a 
une telle force ! §>i£en elites vous, Monfieur 
VAnglois * ?" Not thinking that an argu- 
ment would alter the relative force of the 
two nations, I replied, q/furement, cejl im- 
pojpble f ; and he walked aw r ay completely 
fatisfied and full of convidion of the na- 
tional ftrength % , 



* Good God ! how is it poflible that England can 
refill all this force ! What do you think of it, Mr. Eng- 
lifnman ? 

f Certainly, 'tis impofiible. 

X This is one of the favourite phrafes of the con- 
fular government, in their public declarations. 

There 



( *39 ) 

There are forne peculiarities in their con- 
ftruftion. Part of the gun-boats, for in- 
ftance, have two keels, fo that upon being 
run a-fhore they will fit upright. The pe- 
niches, or pinnaces, are to be impelled not 
only by oars but by fmall wheels, the com- 
bined force of which is, according to the 
French accounts, to give them a wonderful 
degree of velocity. Thefe, together with 
many other furprifing combinations, which 
are excellent upon paper, would, I fufpe<3:, 
be fadly difcompofed by contact with a 
Britifh fquadron. 



Permission obtained to embark on 
board a vessel for embden. 

From the manner in which my paflport 
was worded * f although I was confident the 
intentions of thofe who granted it could be 
no other than to permit me to go where I 

* " Going to the United States of America, to em- 
bark at Bordeaux only," 

pleafed, 



( 2 4 ) 

pleafed, it did not appear certain that the 
agents of the government at Bordeaux 
would permit me to embark in any but an 
American veflel \ and I did not wifh to go 
to America. 

There was then at Bordeaux a veflel be- 
longing to Hamburg, nominally bound to 
Embden, but in reality loading for the port 
of London. This was a fecret known to 
all the town. Having agreed with the Ger- 
man captain for a paflage, I waited upon 
Mr. David, the commiffary of marine, 
whofe bufmefs it is to grant permiflions to 
embark. I opened my paflport and laid it 
before him without fpeaking a word. He 
only enquired the name of the veflel and 
captain with whom I wifhed to embark, 
and wrote the permiffion immediately at 
the bottom of the paflport. Thus an affair, 
which, had I followed any of the numerous 
advices and opinions I received on the oc- 
cafion, might, by raifing doubts in the breaft 
of the commiflary, have become a fubjedt 

of 



( H l ) 

of tedious negotiation, terminated happily 
merely by guarding filence, and allowing 
things to take their own courfe. 

For fix weeks after obtaining permiflion 
to embark, was I obliged to wait in the 
moft painful anxiety for the failing of this 
Hamburg veflel, the captain daily afluring 
me that he would be ready for fea next 
week. What I moft apprehended was that, 
in the interval, an embargo might be laid 
upon all the {hipping in the harbour, and 
that I fhould not be able for a long time to 
get away. 



English Prisoners and American 
Captains. 

During this interval, I was invited to 
dine with a party of Americans .at the 
Cbartrons. A few minutes before we went 
to table, a fcene of a very painful nature 
took place in the houfe* Two Englifh cap- 
It tains 



( 242 ) 

tains of fhips, who had fallen into the hands 
of the enemy, had concealed themfelves in 
the garret for fix weeks, and were in hopes 
of being able to make their efcape in failors' 
habits on board of fome neutral vefiel. 
Some mouchard (fpy) had now informed 
againfl: them, and their hopes were in a 
moment deftroyed. They were arretted 
by officers of the police, and conveyed 
with circumftances of ignominy to prifon. 
The landlady was feverely reprimanded^ 
and with difficulty efcaped the fame fate* 
She would certainly have been fined or 
baniihed, had fhe not been an American, 
and had not the agents of the French go- 
vernment, whofe policy it is to appear to 
^fhew civility to that of America, thought 
proper to pardon her, in compliment to the 
conful of that nation, who had the humanity 
to intercede in her behalf. What a charm- 
ingly compendious fyftem of government 
it is, under which individuals are' con- 
demned or pardoned,, according to the will 
and pleafure of their fuperiors ! 

The 



( H3 ) 

The unfortunate captains, whofe names 
are Conduit and Joms^ were dragged to 
prifon without a farthing of money in their 
pockets. Upon learning this, Captain Mar- 
nerand other Americans very humanely fet 
on foot a fubfcription, and immediately col- 
lected from fifteen to twenty guineas, which 
were conveyed to them in the prifon. The 
gentleman I have juft mentioned (an Irifli- 
man by birth) incurred the difpleafure of 
the police for daring to fhew companion to 
unfortunate Englifhmen. But armed with 
an American paffport, he laughed at their 
refentment. 



Captain Stevenson. 

I mufl: not forget to mention another in* 
fiance of generofity, on the part of an 
American, which was exercifed toward my- 
felf. Captain Stevenfon* of New York, by 
accident faw my name upon a card where 
he vifited. He enquired who I was ; and 
R 2 finding 



( 244 } 
finding that Mr. Hugh Maclean, of New 
York, with whom he was on intimate 
terms, is my brother, he immediately called 
upon me. Conceiving that I was in the 
fituation of a prifoner who wifhed to efcape 
from France, without having a regular paff- 
port, he very handfomely offered to take 
the rifk of giving me a paffage in his own 
veflel ; and, fuppofing that I was not very 
plentifully fupplied with money, he deli- 
cately but earneftly preffed me to fhare his 
purfe, begging that I would not flint my- 
felf, but take whatever fum I might have 
occafion for. 

This offer, as captain Stevenfon would 
have run a confiderable rifk of lofing his 
veffel, had I been difcovered on board of 
hex' in attempting clandeftinely to efcape, 
is one of the moil liberal and noble traits 
of the human charader which I have 
met with through life. Others which have 
occurred to me upon difficult occafions I 
recollect, and could with pleafure record, 

were 



( H5 ) 
were this the proper place for fuch a hif- 
tory. Captain Stevenfon is yet a young 



man. 



Payment refused of Bills drawn 
upon the French Government? 
by their Agents in Saint Do- 
mingo. 

At Bordeaux I met with a Mr. K — , who 
had come from Charleftown, South Carolina, 
onpurpofeto recover payment of bills drawn 
by General Leclerc, or his deputies, for 
provifions and (lores furniihed to the French 
army of Saint Domingo. He met with no 
better fuccefs than Mr. Lindo, of Jamaica, 
who has fuffered fo feverely on a fimilar 
occafion, from want of honor in the French 
government *; 

Mr. 

* The fum for which Mr. Lindo was in advance is 

faid to have exceeded 100,000/. fterling. The refufai 

R3 to 



( 2 4 6 ) 

Mr. K- , iipoa learning at Bordeaux 

how the French government were in fuch 
cafes wont to ad, relinquifhed every idea 
of proceeding to Paris, to throw away, as 
he faid, good money after bad ; and deter- 
mined to return immediately to America. 
He afked me, as I knew Paris, how I 
thought he fhould proceed. To which I 
anfwered by Rating a fad: I had heard re- 
fpeding an Imperial veffei of confiderable 
value, that had been detained illegally by 
the French, about the coricliifion of the war. 
The owners, after having, in vain, tried 
every ordinary means of procuring redrefs, 
promifed to relinquifli a great proportion 
(one third or a half) of her value, if Lucien 
Bonaparte would ufe his influence for the 
releafe of the remainder : " If the amount of 
your debt be confiderable enough. I would 

to liquidate it occafioned his Hopping payment. It is 
now faid that the French government having been per- 
fuaded to fee the bad effects of their unprincipled con- 
duel, have confented to pay the bills drawn on them 
from St. Domingo in favour of Mr. Lindo. But for 
this I do not vouch, 

advife 



( *47 ) 
advife you to adopt the fame principle, as 
the only one by which you have at prefent 
a chance of obtaining juftice in France : if 
not, your beft plan is, perhaps, to relin- 
quifh entirely the purfuit." See Note (</). 



The Expence of Living in England 
and France compared. 

It is a common error, and I do not know- 
one more common, to fay that living is 
cheaper in France than in England, becaufe 
in Paris or Bordeaux, you can dine as well 
for three livres (half-a- crown) as you can 
in London or Edinburgh for five fhillines. 

This indeed would be correct, if the mat- 
ter was confidered only as it regarded perfons 
enjoying a certain fixed income,independent 
of labour ; for, with an annuity of three or 
four hundred pounds a year, one may live 
nearly twice as well in France as in England. 
But if it be confidered as it regards perfons 
P^ 4 who 



( 48 ) 

who procure, by induftry, the means of 
fubfiftence, it is quite the reverfe : for, if 
we fuppofe the facility of getting money as 
only two to one in favour of England, 
while we eftimate the nominal price of the 
articles of life as two to one in favour of 
France, the expence of living will, to the 
man of induflry, be exactly the fame : but 
as the facility of getting money is in reality 
more than two to one in favour of England, 
while the nominal price of provifions is lefs 
than two to one in favour of Fiance, we 
may conclude that the man, who procures, 
by induftry, the means of fubfiftence, can 
live better in England than in France ; and, 
as the bulk of fociety are in this predica- 
ment, w ? e may conclude that, generally 
fpeaking, England is a cheaper country than 
France. If for inftance, the price of beef 
in London be fourteen pence, while in 
Paris it is only fourteen fous^ which is only 
half the money ; but the hire of a labourer 
in London is five fhillings a day, while in 
Paris it is only fifty fous^ which is lefs than 

half 



( *\9 ) 

half, the price of the beef to the former is 
cheaper than to the latter. See Note (<?). 

Of Taxation in France. 

Nor is the idea ufually entertained in 
England, with refped to taxation in France, 
lefs erroneous. I will venture to affirm 
that if a fair comparifon were made of the 
taxes in both countries, and of the means of 
paying them, the eftimate would be corifi- 
derably in favour of England*. It is very 
common with travellers, in the accounts 
which they hear and repeat, to confider 
only the actual fums paid, whether in taxes 

* " Every landholder in France, in confluence of 
a law patted in one of the molt violent moments of 
the revolution, and which is ft ill continued, pays ons 
fourth of his real revenue to the (late ; and, as in par- 
ticular parts of the country the rate has been unfairly 
made, it happens, in fome cafes, that even a half is 
paid inftead of a fourth. The latter is the minimum of 
the prefent taxation." — Lemaiflris Rough Sketch of Mz- 
dern Paris, p. $6. 

or 



( fcSP ) 

or living, without any regard to the rela- 
tive facilities of procuring thefe fums in 
different countries. See Note (/*). 

The only mode of judging fairly of the 
weight of taxes in France, is to go to the 
offices where they are paid. There one 
hears the execrations of the people con- 
ftantly poured forth againft the govern- 
ment ; and be will afterwards judge lefs fa- 
vourably than Englifh travellers in general 
have done, refpedting French taxation. 
There he will fee the tax gatherers exercife 
an arbitrary and undefined authority, as in 
almoil every other department of the fiate. 
There being no collection of the laws or 
flatutes, which regulate thefe matters, no 
individual can know exa&ly what he has 
to pay. Of the vaft variety of laws which 
have been palled on every fubjecl: fince 
the revolution, the government and their 
agents take whichever be ft fait the pur- 
poles of the moment as their guide. It is 
impoffible for the mafs of the people to 

know 



( 2 5 I ) 

know which of thefe laws, fo frequently 
contradictory, are or ought to be efteemed 
in force; they are therefore obliged to take 
the interpretations of the agents of the go- 
vernment, rather than enter into endlefs 
difpute. This is particularly the cafe with 
refpecl; to taxation. The tax-gatherer fends 
in his account to each individual in his 
diftricl; ; and if the amount be not paid into 
his office at a fpecified time, foldiers are 
billeted, without ceremony, in the houies 
of the difobedient. Should they have doubts 
refpeding the juftice of the account, to 
what documents can they refer for informa- 
tion ? To examine and compare all the de- 
crees which have at any time been paffed 
on the fubjecl:, would be a tafk too Her- 
culean for any man who has got occupation 
to employ his time. To get counfel from 
a lawyer is expenfive ; and where the law 
is fo arbitrary and uncertain, would not be 
of much ufe. The people therefore, though 
they cannot help perceiving this abufe, and 
murmuring, never think of oppofing refin- 
ance 



( 2 5^ ) 

ance but in cafes of very glaring over- 
charges, 

I recoiled a ftriking inflance of the dex- 
terity with which the agents of the French 
government, by fele&ing, from their vaft 
mafs of heterogeneous decrees, thofe which 
fuit their immediate purpofes, fet themfelves 
above both law and juftice. A friend of 
mine accompanied the widow of an officer 
of the navy to the marine office. Having 
often petitioned in vain for a penfion, fhe 
^ifhed to afcertain how far fhe had a right 
to demand one. She went, accompanied 
by my friend, to one of the principal clerks, 
whom flie fuppofed to be well difpofed to 
ferve her, and requefted that he would have 
the goodnefs to let her know what was the 
law refpe£ling penfions to officers' widows. 
He was very civil, pretended to be ex-" 
tremely defirous to oblige, was forry that 
he could not himfelf inform her, but if fhe 
would be pleafed to fit down, he would go 
to one of the other offices to afcertain the 
4 particulars. 



( 2 53 ) 

particulars. Upon his return he faid the 
law was that none but the widows of offi- 
cers who had ferved Hventy-one years were 
entitled to penfions. " I am much obliged 
to you, Sir, for your information," faid the 
lady ; " excufe me, however, for faying that 
it appears to me rather ftrange that fuch 
fhould be confidered the law in a republic, 
which has only exifted for twelve years.*' 
We take the law as it exifted before the 
revolution, Madam. " That is undoubtedly 
very convenient for you on this occafion, 
Sir; and if my hufband had ferved twenty- 
one years, I am perfuaded you would with 
equal eafe have found another decree to fuit 
that cafe. I wifh you good morning." 



Napper Tandy 

Had lived, for fome time, in a kind of 
exile at Bordeaux. He w 7 as not permitted to 
go to Paris ; but for what reafon I have not 
been able to learn. Shortly after his death, 

a lady, 



( M ) 

a lady, refident in Bordeaux, wrote to a 
friend in Ireland, adding in a poftfcript to 
her letter: " Napper Tandy, thank God, 
is dead." An officer of police, who it 
feems had perufed the letter, indignant at 
this remark, returned it to the writer with 
a fecond poftfcript at the bottom : " Napper. 
Tandy, Madam, is not dead." 



TOUSSAINT L.OUVERTURE. 

The fate of this unfortunate, but com- 
paratively virtuous, ufurper, is not certainly 
known. It was reported in Paris, many 
months ago, that he had fallen a vicYim to 
the tyranny of his more powerful brother 
ufurper, and died in prifon. I heard at 
Bordeaux, on the contrary, that he is ftill 
living. Two things refpecling him are, 
however, certain, ift. The public are to- 
tally ignorant whether he be dead or alive. 
2dly. If he be alive, they are equally ig- 
norant of the place of his confinement. 

What 



( *55 ) 

What a glorious country to refide in, 
where one cannot know tl of his 

fellow-citizens ! ! ! 

The blacks of St. Domingo are more ge- 
nerous and civilized. 



Privateering. 

It is in Bordeaux river that moll: of the 
privateers, which infefr. the commerce of this 
country, are fitted out. As we have feldom 
any cruizers in that quarter, they can eafily 
get to fea. But afterwards they are obliged 
to take fhelter with their prizes in neutral 
ports. The crews of thefe privateers are, 
very often, principally compo.fed of the 
feamen of neutral nations. While I was 
at Bordeaux, the Bellona privateer failed 
from a port on the confines of Spain, hav- 
ing between forty and fifty American fea- 
men on board. An American, who was 
coming from the fame port with his fhip, 

and 



( 2 S 6 ) 

and was much in want of hands, had great 
difficulty in prevailing on the captain of the 
Bellona to fpare him three of his country- 
men to navigate his fhip. If all perfons of 
this defcription, taken in arms, were to be 
hanged as pirates, it would be nothing 
more than the fate they merit. But it 
would be much better that the envoys, con- 
fuls, or other agents of neutral powers, 
mould do their duty, by making fuch re- 
prefentations to the French government as 
would prevent the captains of French pri- 
vateers from thus deluding the failors of 
neutral ftates into the perpetration of piracy. 



Pressing of Seamen. 

In December a very general prefs of fea- 
men, and I believe for the firft time, took 
place throughout France. The mode they 
adopt is much more complete in its 
operation than ours. The name of every 
feaman is regiftered in the commune to 

which 



( 257 ) 

which he belongs. He receives an order 
to repair to a certain place of rendezvous, 
and, if he does not make his appearance 
by the fpecified time, fome foldiers are 
billeted with his family until he is forth- 
coming. Thus it is impoffible for a man 
to elude the fervice but by ruining his fa- 
mily. After collecting together all the fea- 
men in France, however, I doubt much 
whether they will be able to man thirty 
fhips of the line. 

At Bordeaux the prefs had been lb com- 
pletely carried into execution that the mails 
have been laying for hours at the ferry of 
Cubfac for want of boatmen to carry them 
over. The merchants could not even get 
hands to convey goods on board their vef- 
fels. In fhort, the meafure has occafioned 
much diftrefs and diffatisfadion throughout 
the country. 



Irish 



( *J« ) 



Irish Emigrants., 

Ireland being the deftination which the 
French government were willing fliould be 
attributed to their armaments, they very 
early offered commiffions to the Irifli emi- 
grants at Paris to ferve in their armies. But 
thefe unfortunate men nobly refufed to 
fight againft their country ; and it is no 
common facrifice for men, who are for the 
m< ft part barely fupplied with the means 
of fubfiftence, to refufe employment. It is 9 
I have underftood at Bordeaux, believed by 
many of them that Bonaparte had offered 
to the Englifh government to give them all 
up, provided they would a£fc a fimilar part 
by the Bourbon family and the French 
emigrants \n England ; but that the offer 
was refufed with indignation. That fo in- 
famous a proportion may have been made 
I have no hefitation in believing, from 
what 1 know to be the character of the 

ufurper. 



( 259 ) 

tifurper. I folemnly believe that there is 
no action fo atrocious that he would not 
commit, in order to gain his ends. See 
Note (g). 

Bertrand Barrere. 

A ihort time after my arrival at Bor- 
deaux, my curiofity was ftrongly excited 
by feeing the name of Bertrand Barrere 
figuring at the head of a new journal. It 
was entitled, Memoires Ante-Britanniques \ 

Among the cameleons of the revolution, 
none has played a more conipicuous or left 
reputable part, with perhaps the exception 
of Rsederer. When the Briflbtine party 
were in power, he was a kind of tolerated 
adherent. Having, upon their approaching 
fall, attached himfelf to the jacobins, he 
wifhed to abandon Robefpierre, when it 
came to his turn to be deftroyed, and to 
take refuge in the arms of the fuccefsful 
party. He was, however, by this time, too 
S 2 much 



( 260 \ 

much loaded with the popular execration 
for them to receive him. 



But they did not wifh to take away his 
life. Condemned to tranfportation with 
C allot T? Herbois and Billared-Varennes , his 
exile was commuted into imprifonment, 
which continued till the acceffion of Bona- 
parte to fupreme authority in France. That 
he is again come forth to figure on the 
public ftage is certainly ominous, as there 
was never a party, whom he ferved during 
the revolution, that he did not ultimately 
either abandon or betray. Following in- 
ftinctively the fortunes of whoever has got 
the power in their hands, he may not un- 
aptly be termed the official grand trumpeter 
of dtjpotifm. 

Bonaparte, upon his affumption of the 
reins of government, at firft contented him- 
felf with only liberating Barrere from 
prifon, as was then fuppofed merely from 
compafiion. But the arch Corfican pro- 
bably 



( ?& ) 

bably never did a good a&ion (if this can 
be fuppofed a good one) without fome 
felfith motive. He knows how to employ 
the talents of men, in order to promote his 
own purpofes. He knew that, as a fmuggler 
makes a good cuftom-houfe officer, Barrere 
would make a good cenfor of the prefs. 
To the general aftonifhment of the com- 
munity, he was appointed a kind of cenfor 
ot the Parifian journals: and, as conductor 
of the Memoires Ante-BritanniqueS) he is 
now promoted to the office of cenfor-ge^ 
neral of the Britiili nation. 

In his new capacity, from the numbers 
of that journal I have had an opportunity 
of perufmg, he does not appear by any 
means to excel. Nay, he falls greatly fliort 
of the expectations the public were na- 
turally led to conceive from the talents he 
had manifested on former occafions. With 
refpeet to found reafoning, we cannot upon 
fuch a fubjedt expect any ; but he even 
S 3 falls. 



( 262 ) 

falls woefully fhort of his own former 
eloquence of declamation. 

Whether this may arife from a diminu- 
tion of intellectual vigor, or from his 
ftanding upon more untenable ground than 
formerly, or perhaps from both, I will not, 
for my own part, pretend to decide. But 
as the enthufiafm, which then rendered the 
French people capable of being excited even 
to phrenzy againft the Englifli nation, is 
now, I may fay, entirely worn off, it would 
feem as if the prefent poft of citizen Barrere 
is at lead very ill chofen, if it be not en- 
tirely a forlorn hope. 



Opinions in France, respecting the 
Invasion of England. 

Some time refore the re-commencement 
of hoftilities, the idea of the invafion of 
England was very familiar to the coffee- 

houfe 



( 263 ) 

houfe politicians of Paris, and even to peo- 
ple of all defcriptions in France. It was 
for the moft part very favourably viewed. 
The French had a confufed notion that, as 
they had crofTed the Alps, and, according 
to their own journals and difpatches, per- 
formed fo many wonders, they could crofs 
the Channel, and eafily vanquifh. England. 
This notion, although not quite general, 
extended, however, much beyond the mafs 
of the people. Converfing on this fubjedt 
with a young man of much ingenuity and 
erudition, who had been in Egypt, he ob- 
ferved : " But fuppofing a hundred thou- 
fand men land on one point, what would 
be the confequence The confequence 
would be, I replied, that not a man of them 
would probably ever return. " But you 
are not Romans,'' added he. No, but we 
are more than Romans, becaiife we are more 
free. " Your fenators," continued he, 
" would not wait the enenny fitting on 
their curule chairs." No, but they would 
meet them in the field. 

S 4 In 



( 2(J 4 ) 

In effecT:, the exaggerated greatnefs of 
the Romans dazzles us for this reafon prin- 
cipally, that they only have related the hif- 
tory of their own exploits. Had the Car- 
thaginian narratives alfo come down to us, 
we fhould undoubtedly have found caufe to 
form a very different judgment. Let us 
apply this reafoning to the modern French. 
Could they fucceed in deftroying the Eng- 
lifh and American preffes, what prodigious 
heroes would they not appear to future 
generations ? They would eclipfe the glory 
of the Romans by fo much as their modefty 
is lefs *, 



* In perufing, in the Momteur, the impoflible ao 
tions performed by the heroes, deemed worthy of be- 
ing elected members of the Legion of Honour, we are 
at a lofs which moil to admire, the dclufion of thofe 
who imagine they have performed them, or the im^ 
pudence of thofe who pafs them on the public as 
fadls. A dialogue between the members of that le- 
gion, quoting their exploits, merely as they are ftated 
in the above celebrated official paper, would be quite 
51s diverting as any of the tales of Monchaufen, 

The 



( *i ) 

The opinions of the French have now 
very much changed refpecting the fuccefs 
of the invafion. They afcertain by private 
correfpondence from Boulogne, notwith- 
Handing the lies inceffantly detailed by the 
Parifian journals, that no number of their 
boats dare to attack even a fingle Britiih 
veffel, out of the reach of the batteries 
a-fhore, and that, if they had even no enemy 
to contend with, they could not refift the 
force of a high fea. While I was at Bor- 
deaux, in December, I read extracts from 
the Englifh papers, in the French journals, 
fhewing the impracticability of fucceeding 
in the invafion. The inference, which I 
drew from this fact, knowing the ufual 
policy of the French government, is that 
they wifhed, by this means, gradually to 
accuftom the public mind to the idea of 
abandoning the project entirely. As this 
practice, however, only continued for a 
fhort time, it was pofEbly connected with 
|bme temporary hopes of peace enter- 
tained 



( 266 ) 

tained by the Firft Conful, but which mud 
foon have vanifhed. 

To the experience of the inefficiency of 
their boats, we may add that the ardor 
infpired by novelty, a great point with 
Frenchmen, is now entirely worn off. 
We may, therefore, confider the people at 
large as having confiderably retrograded in 
their expectations of fuccefs, without fup- 
pofing that the project will, on that ac- 
count, be the more readily abandoned by 
the Firft Conful. 



Prolongation of the Period al- 
lowed ME FOR QUITTING THE TER- 
RITORY of the French Republic. 

The period for which my original paff- 
port was granted being expired, before the 
veffel in which I was to depart was ready 
to fail, I had to apply to the prefecture of 

the 



( 26 7 ) 

the department for its prolongation. In 
the abfence of Charles de Lacrois, the pre- 
fect, one of the counfellors of the prefecture 
took my cafe into his confideration ; but, be- 
fore he would decide, wrote to the; commif- 
fary of police to have his opinion, refpect- 
ing the propriety of granting rny demand. 

Before any bufinefs is finally difpatched 
in any of the public offices of France, the 
perfon whom it concerns mult lay his ac- 
count to having a great many walks, which 
he will deem unneceffary. 1 had at leaft a 
dozen from the hotel to the prefecture, 
from the prefecture to the police office, and 
from the police office back to the prefecture. 
It would not have been furprifing that, in 
the particular circumftances under which I 
was placed, they fhould have been cautious 
and dilatory. But I had obferved the fame 
practice in cafes of ordinary occurrence at 
Paris. Is it that delay is neceffary to the 
views of the police, or that, by fuch arti- 
fices, 



( a68 ) 

fices, the clerks of offices endeavour to ex- 
tracT: money from ftrangers ? 

In the courfe of the enquiries, which I 
had to make on thefe occafions, I found 
that the common people of Bordeaux knew 
nothing of the new names of La Prefclure 
and Le Commijfariat de Police, When I 
afkeci my way to the former, they faid : — 
perhaps, Sir, you mean Le Dtpartement ; 
and, when I enquired for the latter, 
jps, Sir, you mean La Commune. 
The lame confufion exifts refpe&ing the 
ftreets which, in the courfe of the revo- 
lution, have had the honour of getting new 
names. 

The commiflary of police, Pierre Pierre^ 
after feveral d^ys ? delay, daring which he 
.: necelTary enquiries re- 
fpe&ing my eon ud" at Bordeaux, returned 
for anfwer to the prttedure : " that he faw 
no reafon why the prolongation required 

(three 



( 269 ) 

(three weeks) mould not be accorded.' 5 And 
it was itnmediatley granted. 

I now formed the refolution, if the Ham- 
burg veffel was not ready to fail before the 
end of that period, to proceed by the firft 
opportunity to Bilboa, and from thence 
take a pafiage to England ; a plan, which, 
had I known the facility of accomplifliing 
it, I would have at firft adopted. 



Departure from Bordeaux. 

At length the happy period fo anxioufly 
wifhed for arrived, and I proceeded down 
the river, on Tuefday the 13th of Decem- 
ber, in order to embark on board the brig 
Ceres of Hamburg, Captain J. D. Stein- 
metz, laying at the fecund pafs. In ftepping 
in the boat, a man irk green uniform, with 
a fword by his fide, very civilly accofled 
me : " I hope you will think of me, Sir; 
I have allowed your baggage to pafs with- 
4 . cut 



( 2 7 ) 

out examination." I gave him fome fous f 
and he was content. 

This was one of thofe perfons called 
frepofees dc la douane^ or cuftom-houfe 
officers, with whom the wharfs at Bor- 
deaux are conftantly fwarming. It is cal- 
culated that in all France there are from 
120 to 140,000 of thefe officers. Befide 
preventing frnuggling, and proving a fource 
of patronage to the government, they are 
reputed famous for their atchievements 
againft the Britifh cruizers, which fome- 
times threaten the coaft. From the valiant 
exploits they are reported to have per- 
formed on thefe occafions, it feeros rather 
furprifing that none of them have been 
yet eleded as members of the legion of 
honour. 

In walking along the Chartrons^ I have 
occafionally heard fome of thefe prepofees 
de la donane fpeak Engliih too well to have 
l)eenbred and born in France. 

As 



( 2 7* ) 

As we proceeded down the river, I faw 
Captain Stevenfon's veffel repairing. From 
the ftate fhe was in, it would probably be 
feveral weeks ; nay, as the carpenters were 
aimed all put in requifition by the govern- 
ment, it might be feveral months before fhe 
could be got ready for fea. It was well, 
therefore, I had not confented to wait for 
her. 

It was night before we reached the Ceres. 
Pafling an American fhips, juft arrived in 
the river, which was very leaky, and had 
the pumps conftantly at work to keep her 
from finking, we hailed to know where the 
Ceres lay ; " You be d — d," was the only 
anfwer we received. I thought we were 
already in England. 

In the evening we arrived fafely on 
board. The paffengers confifted of a Scotch 
lady, Mifs Macleod, whofe father had died 
in the vicinity of Touloufe, having gone to 
France fome months before for the benefit 

of 



( *7 2 ) 

of his health, two American merchants* 
Meffrs. Beverly and O'Reilly, and myfelf. 

On Wednefday we got under weigh, 
and went down the river, leaving the town 
of Blaye on the right hand, and Pauillac 
on the left. The former contains about 
4000, and the latter about 1500, inhabi- 
tants. Off each place we had a new pilot. 
It being winter, and the weather bad, the 
fcenery, in defcending the river, was of 
courie rather dull. About noon we came 
to an anchor, a neceffary piece of etiquette, 
near the guard-fhip {la Stattonnaire\ % oppo- 
lite to the village of Royan. 

The captain went immediately on board 
the Stationnaire with one fet of his fhip's 
papers (having carefully concealed the 
other), and the paflengers* paflports. He 
appeared in great tribulation, and we ob- 
ferved him on the way hail another veffel, 
the captain of which he knew, to enquire 
how he had been treated. On feeing him 

foon 



( *7Z ) 
foon afterwards return with a countenance 
tolerably ferene, and without being accom- 
panied by any perfon from the guard -fhip, 
we concluded that every thing had paffed 
to his fatisfa&ion. But on coming upon 
deck he aflumed a ferious air, and, turning 
to me, faid it was ordered that I fhould 
accompany him on board the Stationnaire. 
" Come along; I am ready to attend you 
inftantly, captain :" and was going to ftep 
into the boat. " No ! no ! never mind, I 
was only yoking," faid the captain, his fea- 
tures relaxing into a fmile. 

The fituation of this guard-fhip, it ap- 
pears to me, is fuch that (he might be eafily 
cut out by any of our frigates, was it worth 
the while to make the attempt. It may be 
objected that the wind, which is fair for 
going into the river, is contrary for coming 
out ; and that a (hip would run a great 
chance of being taken, after having at- 
chieved the enterprife. But where are the 
T batteries 



( 274 ) 
batteries or naval force that could be brought 
againft her ? 

We here got a new pilot on board, from 
one of the Royan boats, whofe office is 
denoted by red fails and numbers ; he was 
to take us out to fea. But the weather be- 
ing bad and the wind contrary, it was 
feveral days before he could efFe£t that pur- 
pofe ; and we pafTed a very irkfome inter- 
val. On Thurfday a boat was perceived 
corning from the Stationnalre % apparently 
fleering toward us. The captain, in a 
terrible buftle, began to flow away his 
papers in his breeches. He broke out into 
a cold fweat. " My Cot, how baat I am," 
faid he, " I cannot draw my breath* Doc- 
tor, be fo goot to feel my pulfe." It was 
fcarcely perceptible; and his extremities 
were abfolutely cold. You muft take a glafs 
of Coniac, captain. " I tink it vill do me 
goot." After repeating the dofe : '■ I will 
now go pon deck, and fee vhat dis fellow 

vants." 



( *75 ) 
vants." The guard-boat was by this time 
paft us (leering for another veflel. 

From Wednefday to Sunday morning, 
we were forced to lay at anchor, owing to 
contrary and ftrong winds. The wind be- 
coming fair, we proceeded to fea at day- 
light on Sunday the 18th of December, in 
company with feveral other veflels. I could 
not help imagining, but perhaps it was only 
imagination, that the pilots of La Gironde 
have not the fame intrepidity with thofe of 
our own country. With a moderate por- 
tion of that article, I am perfuaded we might 
have proceeded on our voyage almofl on 
any day between Wednefday and Sunday. 

By eight o'clock we were at fea; and 
the pilot quitted us. On leaving the mouth 
of the river, we had an extenfive profpe£t 
of the low and ftraight coaft of Medoc. 
But what proved mod gratifying to my 
mind was to behold the tower of the Cor- 
T 2 dovan 



{ 2 7 6 ) 

dovan light-houfe * fenfibly receding from 
the view. I imagined the French republic 
to be there concentered, and that I was in a 
few hours to lofe fight of it, perhaps for 
ever. I remember fimilar feafations to have 
been excited by the gradual difappearance 
of the church fteeple of Batavia, in the Eaft 
'Indies, and of the top of Ladder-hill, on 
the ifiand of Saint Helena, after having 
fuffered a difagreeable and unexpe&ed de- 
tention at each of thefe places. 

In the courfe of the day, we loft fight of 
the light- houfe and of the land; and I de- 
voutly returned thanks to the plague for 

* This tower, built upon rocks at the entrance of the 
river Gironde, Is (aid to be 150 or 160 feet high. The 
great -lanthern is eftimated at 15. From two to three 
hundred pounds of pit-coal are faid to be confumed 
there every night. The watch is relieved once a fort- 
night. But they generally lay in a month's provisions, 
' beeaofe boats can only approach the rocks upon which 
the tower is 'built, when the fea is fmooth. 



having 



( 277 ) 

having enabled me to quit the territories of 
the French republic. 

Of feveral veffels which were in com- 
pany, ours was rather the beft failer. The 
captain, emulous of appearing to carry fail 
like an Englifhman, hoifted fleering fails 9 
although they did not prove of much fer- 
vice, and were obliged to be fhortly after- 
wards hauled down. The following morn- 
ing, none of our conforts were in light. 
One of them, a fchooner, was bound to 
Guernfey, and had Englifh pafiengers on 
board. 

This was the firffc time, and I hope it will 
be the laft, of my failing in any other than 
an Englifh veffel. With refpe£t to eating, 
I muft do the captain the juftice to fay that, 
according to his own ideas of good living, 
he was affiduous to pleafe : and we were 
only unfortunate that our tafte in cookery, 
and wines, were not exactly the fame with 
T 3 his^ 



{ 2 7 8 ) 

Ms, which, if lefs refined, was certainly 
more convenient. 

On board of German veflels, a practice, 
which, together with moll others in the art 
of navigation, they feem to have adopted 
from the Dutch, the log is hove only once 
in four hours ; and they laugh at the ignor 
ranee of the Englifh in being obliged to 
heave it every hour. As to the lead, it was 
never once thought of during the paflage. 
Indeed, confidering the imperfect manner 
in which the reckoning of fmall {hips is 
ufually kept, it has often furprifed me how 
frequently they blunder fafe into port. 

On the evening of the fecond day, as we 
were approaching Breft, 1 was very anxious 
to meet with Englifh cruizers. But fo was 
not the captain. " They are baat fellows,'* 
he faid, " who take every ting, and give 
noting." He then recounted feveral anec- 
dotes refpe&ing officers of Englifh men of 

war. 



( *79 ) 
war, who vifited German vefTels, fome of 
which were abfurd, and fome truly laugh-? 
able. He dreaded the meeting with a 
Britifli frigate, as much as he did the ex- 
pected vifit from the Stationnaire. 

At day light in the morning of Tuefday, 
we made Ufhant light-houfe, diftant five or 
fix leagues. The weather was fine, and the 
wind fair. On Thurfday evening we made 
the Shingle lights. The two following 
nights it blew very frefh, but moderated in 
the day time. On Saturday morning, with- 
out meeting with any particular occurrence, 
or even feeing any veflels until we paflfed 
Beachy-head, we caft anchor in the Downs- 
My joy at landing upon Deal beach 
was fo great, that I could have proftrated 
myfelf to embrace the genuine foil of free- 
dom, had I not recolle&ed that it would 
have been too egregious an inftance of 
imitation, 

T 4 On 



( 28o ) 

pri landing at Deal, we went, at the re- 
commendation of a fellow-paflenger, who 
had frequently travelled that way, to the 
Hoop and Griffin Inn. Here we fat down 
to a breakfaft certainly much more com"? 
fortable than any we had enjoyed fince we 
left Bordeaux. Before we got up from 
table, we were vifited by a cuftom-houfe 
officer, who, after making fome wry faces, 
declared that, having come afhore contrary 
to an exprefs regulation, we muft return 
on board, 'and proceed with the veflel tq 
Qravefend. 

In reply I obferved that being a Britifli 
fubjed, and not knowing any law by which 
I could, as fuch, be prohibited from landing 
in any part of the Britifh dominions, I muft 
decline complying with his requeft of re- 
turning on board. But as I would not 
willingly infringe on any regulation it 
might have been thought neceffary at this 
moment to make, and as the intention of 

fuch 



( *8i ) 

fuch regulation, as that which he faid ex* 
ifted, could be only to prevent the landing 
of improper perfons, I was very willing to 
comply with the fpirit of it, by remaining 
In his cuftody until fatisfa&ory information 
refpe&ing me could be obtained from Lon- 
don : in fine, that I was willing to fubmit 
to any thing reafonable he might require ; 
but that nothing fhort of abfolute compul- 
iion could make me put my foot again on 
board a {hip. 

He requefted I would fhew the cuftom- 
matter, or commiflioner of the cuftoms, I 
am not fure which, what papers I had with 
me. I brought him a medical and chirur- 
gical diploma, the one in Latin, and the 
other in Englifli. He perufed them both 
with apparent attention ; faid they feemed 
to be regular, and that I might proceed. 



Journey 



( 282 ) 



Journey from Deal to London. 

Having bid adieu to our fhipmates, who 
went by Dover, I fet out at three o'clock 
P. M. in the diligence for London, accom- 
panied by the German captain. He re- 
folved to come to town by land, in order to 
get a permit for his veffel to proceed up the 
river. I was defirous of obferving the 
effects of Englifh fcenery on the mind of the 
young German, who feemed to be ftrongly 
tinctured with admiration of the power of 
France, and a partiality for the French 
people *• 

* This is too common a feeling in Germany, par- 
ticularly among the lower orders of the people, and 
where the French have not yet had an opportunity of 
paying fraternal vifits. The Hanoverians, before the 
invafion of their country, were ftrongly inclined toward 
the French caufe j but they are, no doubt, ere this, 
ftill more ftrongly inclined in the oppofite direction, 

la 



( *8 3 ) 

In converfing with him on the road, I 
compared every object we pafled with ob- 
jects of the fame kind, which he had feen in 
France or Germany. But being extremely 
tenacious of his confiftency, it was with re- 
luctance he would confefs the fuperiority 
of any thing that was Englifh. I do not 
recollect a fingle inftance of his frankly 
acknowledging this fuperiority but on one 
occafion. The horfes, he allowed, are 
better than thofe of France. 

It was Sunday morning when we entered 
London; the road was crouded with car- 
riages, and people on horfeback. " Cap- 
tain," faid I, " you would not, in the 
neighbourhood of Paris, fee, in a whole 
year y fo many carriages and horfes as have 
palled us this morning." He afferted he 
could fee as many in a month. The truth, 
I believe, might lie between. 

On our entrance into the city, I con- 
figned the captain to a hackney-coach, 

in 



( 284 ) 

in order to be depofited in a German ta- 
vern at Wapping, of which he had the ad- 
drefs, and proceeded to my brother's in 
Bafinghall-ftreet* 



AP- 



APPENDIX: 



The Invasion of Great Britain, 
and the probable auxiliary 
Plans of Bonaparte, considered. 

IT feems to be the opinion of many that 
the intention of Bonaparte is not to attempt 
the invafion of this country; but to en- 
deavour to exhauft our refources and our 
patience, by keeping us conftantly in a ftate 
of preparation and alarm. This opinion 
feems to me to be no lefs erroneous than it 
is dangerous to entertain. 

The Firft Conful of France, whatever he 
may declare in his official bulletins, to his 
unfortunate fubjedts, cannot be fo ignorant 

of 



( 286 ) 

of the comparative refources of the two 
countries, and the charaders of the two 
people, as ferioufly to expe£t fuccefs from 
protra&ing the conteft. He cannot but 
know that, by a prolongation of hoftilities, 
both the refources and the patience of the 
people of France would be exhaufted before 
thofe of the people of England. The al- 
moft immediate confequence of fuch a ftate 
of things to France, he muft be fenfible, 
would be the total ruin of what ftill re- 
mains to her of manufactures and of com- 
merce, together with the confequent anni- 
hilation of almoft the very elements of her 
naval power. How can there be naviga- 
tion, where there is no commerce ? How 
can there be feamen, where fhips cannot 
go out of port ? 

But there is another confideration which 
is of infinitely more importance with Bo- 
naparte than the manufa&ures, the com- 
merce, the navigation, or even the very ex- 
iftence of France ;— his perfonal glory is at 
5 ftake. 



C 287 ) 

ftake. He (lands committed in the face of 
Europe ; and he muft conquer England, 
or fall in the attempt. 

It feems, therefore, a matter of as great 
certainty as human affairs can admit, that 
the invafion of this country will be at- 
tempted as foon as the preparations are 
deemed in fufficient forwardnefs to afford a 
poffibility of fuccefs. And as every man, 
deferving the name of Briton, has no doubt 
determined, in his own mind, that he fliall 
not furvive the difgrace of fubjugation, it 
feems equally certain that the attempt will 
be promptly and moft glorioufly defeated ; 
a defeat by which the defpot, who condu&s 
the wicked enterprize, will be overwhelmed 
in irretrievable ruin. 

The only queftions,then, that can arife, on 
this fubje£t, are thefe : at what period, and 
with what force, will the invafion of Eng- 
land be attempted to be carried into execu- 
tion? 

We 



( 28S ) 

We know that the period originally fixed 
upon by the advice of Admiral Bougainville, 
and other naval officers of experience, who 
were confulted on the occafion, was imme- 
diately after the winter folftice ; that is be- 
tween the 22d of December and the 15th 
of January. But the obftacles that have 
occurred to the completion of the prepara- 
tives for the expedition have been much 
greater than was at firft forefeen. The 
building of boats, the raifing of funds, have 
experienced delays ; and the flotillas have 
been conftantly retarded in their route by 
the vigilance and activity of our cruizers i 
fo that of the two thoufand veflels, origi- 
nally deftined to rendezvous at Boulogne, 
not much more than the half have yet ar- 
rived \ and it is not very likely that the 
force, deemed neceffary for the fuccefs of 
the enterprife, has, fince the commencement 
of the war, diminifhed in the eftimation of 
Bonaparte. 

The 



( *s 9 ) 

The general opinion, if there can be faid 
to be any general opinion in France, and 
probably the advice of nautical men, pointed 
to the middle of fpring as the proper 
period of embarking, provided it could not 
be done, according to the firft plan, during 
the winter folftice. But thofe, who know 
how little Bonaparte regards either the one 
or the other, will not be difpofed to allow 
them much weight. The moft probable 
conclufion is that, without regard to any 
particular period, the expedition will fet out 
at whatever time the Firft Conful thinks his 
preparations are of fufficient magnitude to 
give him any profpeft of a p.offibility of fuc- 
cefs : and were I to name a period, I would 
fay, confidering the obftacles we are able 
to throw in his way, it could not be before 
the end of March, or the beginning of 
April. But, as the tyrant of France is an 
enemy who never fleeps, it behoves the 
people of this country not to relax for a 
moment in their glorious efforts for re- 
pelling the audacious foe; efforts which 
U have 



( 2Q0 ) 

have raifed the admiration of Europe, and 
will command the gratitude of pofterity. 

While in this great conteft, our glorious 
ifland will remain impregnable by the 
valour and the energies of a population of 
freemen, it will be incumbent on us to 
watch with a vigilant eye over the fafety of 
the weaker members of the commonwealth 
of Europe, as well as of our own diftant 
and fubordinate pofleflions. We fhould be 
aware that, while Bonaparte will not re- 
linquifh his project of endeavouring to 
ftrike the tree at the root, he will alfo watch 
every opportunity of injuring or lopping off 
fome of its mod prolific branches : and this, 
as it muft be attended with lefs danger, he 
may very naturally be fuppofed to prefer,.. 

We know with what reluctance Bona- 
parte will meafure his force, corps a corps y 
with that of Great Britain. It has not ef- 
caped our recollection that, in order to 
avoid the alternative of vifiting this dread 

iflandj 



( 291 ) 

ifland, when appointed by the Executive 
Directory, commander in chief of that army 
oftentatioufly denominated the Army of 
England, he contrived to get himfelf fent to 
commit an outrageous violation on the laws 
of nations in the invafion of Egypt. In pur- 
fuance of the fame principle, and with a view 
to affecT: the commerce and the power of 
Great Britain, it is not an improbable con- 
jecture that he is, at this moment, meditating 
an expedition, by fea, from Holland to Den- 
mark, with the intent of (hutting the Sound 
againft the commerce of this country, and 
preparing, at the fame time, a diverfion a- 
gainft our Afiatic colonies, direclly by the flrfl 
fleet he can flip out from Breft or Toulon, 
or indiredly through the dominions of the 
Ottoman Porte. Thefe may be confidered 
as auxiliary plans ; but which may, accord- 
ing to circumftances, be converted into 
principal ones. 

It will, probably, be objected that both 

thefe plans are of too romantic a nature^ 

U 2 and 



( 2 9 2 ) 

and too palpable a violation of the rights of 
nations, to enter into the defigns of the Firft 
Conful. But with refpe£t to the former, I 
reply that it would only prove an additional 
recommendation to Bonaparte ; and as to 
the latter, would the perfon, who attacked 
Egypt, when at- profound peace with the 
Ottoman Porte, fcruple to invade Denmark, 
without any previous quarrel with that 
country ? 

The invafion of Egypt ; the fubjugation 
of Holland, Switzerland, and Italy ; the re- 
dufiion of Spain and Portugal to the con- 
dition of tributary vaffals ; the degradation 
of the Germanic empire by the a£t of me- 
diation, and the invafion of Hanover ; the 
mortgage of that latter country ; and the 
forced loans levied, with an unparalleled 
fublimity of impudence, on the Hanfeatic 
towns of Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen, 
after the moft folemn promifes of refpe£t 
for their neutrality and independence ; thefe, 
X fay, are traits, which ought to convince 

the 



( 2 93 ) 

the moft incredulous that Bonaparte's mind 
is completely exempt from every vulgar 
fcruple, of which the obfervance has hitherto 
been deemed ufeful between individuals and 
between nations* After this, can we he- 
fitate to believe that, if he thought he 
could thereby (hut the Sound againfl the 
fleet of England, he would embrace the 
firft opportunity of invading Denmark ? 

Twenty or thirty thoufand men, trans- 
ported from Holland to Denmark, by fea, 
might be able to effedt this objed. If ne- 
ceiTary, the Sound being then under their 
command, 100,000 or 200,000 men might 
afterwards be fent through Holftein to join 
them. Here Bonaparte would be able to 
contend with Ruffia, if Ruffia then dared to 
take offence : and, while he obtained the 
gratification of fhutting the Sound againfl: 
the Englifh, he would procure an additional 
depot for feeding and cloathing his armies. 
A fucceffion of them would be fent to Den- 
U 3 mark 



( '^94 ) 
mark to be cloathed, as happened lately 
with refped to Hanover. 

Prudence, then, would feem to dictate to 
Denmark, and indeed to the other nations 
of Europe, either to imitate the example of 
England in the volunteer fyftem, and other 
modes of augmenting their military force, 
or that of France in enforcing a military con- 
fcription. This would feem to be the only 
efficient mode, by which the machinations 
of the mifchievous rulers of that refllefs na- 
tion can be completely fruftrated. 

The adminiftration of Great Britain will 
no doubt, in the mean time, adopt every 
meafure, which depends upon them, to de- 
feat fuch projects. While they are pre- 
pared to defend with energy at home the 
palladium of the independence of Europe, 
they will alfo keep a vigilant eye upon the 
out-pods, particularly to the north and to 
the eafL 

The 



( 2 9 j ) 

The next queftion to be confidered is the- 
force that will probably be employed to ad: 
againft this country ; and it is a matter of 
fome confequence to be afcertained. 

I have already obferved that the armies 
of the republic, including thofe of Italy and 
Holland, have, by means of the military 
confcription, been augmented to between 
800,000 and a million of men. Of thefe 
we mail fuppofe that at lead 400,000 may 
be deftined to acl: againft England. It does 
not become wife or brave men either to 
under-rate or over-rate the dangers by 
which they may be threatened. Let us 
then fuppofe that of the 400,000 men def- 
tined to acl: againft England, 100,000, or 
even 200,000 (the reft being deftroyed in 
the pafiage), mould, by a fpecies of miracle, 
efcape the vigilance of our fleets and 
cruizers, and effed a landing, either en one 
or feveral points, what would be the confe- 
quence? Would not an equal number of 
Englifhmen be ready to oppofe them, be- 
ll 4 fare 



( 296 ) 

fore they had got a footing in the country ? 
Yes ! there would be even twice, nay three 
times the number, if neceffary. But I, in 
my confcience, believe, that an equal num- 
ber of Englifhmen, with the ardour and 
difeipline of our volunteers, would be more 
than a match for their very beft foldiers. 

Let us examine fairly the pretenfions of 
the French troops. We are under no ne- 
ceflity of denying them either bravery or 
difcipline. But are they fuperior to Englifli 
or Auftrian foldiers ? On what occafion, I 
would beg to sfk, have thefe ever been 
beaten by an equal number of French 
troops ? We know the ta&ics by which 
they were fo uniformly fuccefsful, laft war, 
on the continent, it was by an unfparing 
facrifice of men ; and being conftantly en- 
abled, whether defeated or victorious, to 
pour in freih forces. They were almoft 
always greatly fuperior in numbers to the 
enemy, even when their difpatches and 
journals affirmed that the enemy were 

double 



( *97 ) 

double their force. When they had no 
opportunity of employing thefe ta&ics, as 
in Egypt againft the Englifh, we fee them 
conftantly defeated. Here then we have 
the grand fecret of their victories, particu- 
larly thofe of Bonaparte, who was more 
fortunate, nearly in proportion as he was 
Jefs fcrupulous, than the other generals of 
France. 

In the event of a body of them landing 
in England, it is certain that they could get 
no reinforcements from home : and thus 
the fole ground of their fuccefs, the being 
able conftantly to out-number an enemy, is 
wanting. Befide that, Frenchmen, know 
not what it is to contend with Englifhmen 
upon Englifh ground, we fhould, in fuch a 
conjuncture, have the advantage of being 
able conftantly to out-number the enemy, 
and thus to put a fpeedy termination to the 
conteft. If I might be allowed, on a fub- 
jed: on which I cannot pretend to any pro- 
feffional knowledge, to offer a humble fug- 

geftion, 



( 2 9 8 ) 

geftion, founded on obvious phyfical differ- 
ences, I would recommend to my country* 
men, in cafe of the enemy being able to 
effect a landing, to truft to their fuperiority 
of mufcular ftrength, and at once to charge 
them with bayonets and pikes, rather than 
lofe time in platoon-firing, or the more in- 
tricate fpecies of military evolutions. It 
would, with this view, be advifable to prac- 
tile a good deal with thefe weapons. The 
French foldiers, at landing from their boats, 
could not withftand the terrible and well 
directed fhock of a Britifh column. 

Lamenting, as fincerely as the mod ab» 
ftract: philofopher can do, the lofs of the 
many valuable lives that muft be facrificed 
in this great ftruggle, I cannot, however, 
regard the conteti: on our part, but as a 
matter of inevitable neceflity, which we 
ought neither to (brink from nor to fear. 
Coafidering, indeed, the almoft divine de- 
gree of elevation to which the fpirit of the 
people is, at this moment, raifed, ftimulating 

every 



( 2 99 } 
every individual, as it were, to contribute 
his utmeft fum of zeal, alacrity and vigour, 
to the general ftock of public exertion, we 
may look with confidence to a refult no left 
fplendid than it will be glorious for the arms 
of Great Britain ; a refult, indeed, only 
proportionate to the juftieecf our caufe. 



NOTES. 



Note (a). Page 6j~ 

1 HE retardation of improvement in Spain, 
I have no doubt, will be found, upon enquiry, 
to have been in fome meafure occafioned by the 
inland fituation of its capital; while Portugal 
appears to have derived confiderable advantages 
from the topographical pofition of Lifbon. 

Note (J>). Page 80. 
Madame Perigord, formerly Madame Le 
Grand, is faid, by fome, to be an Englifh woman, 
and to have been married to a Mr. Grant in the 
Eaft Indies. This I mention merely as a furmife, 
the truth of which it would fcarcely be worth 
while to take much trouble to afcertain. 

Note (c). Page 237. 
It feems highly probable that the French go- 
vernment, while they were endeavouring to de- 
ceive us by an oftentatious difplay of building 
a vaft number of boats upon a fmall fcale, in ail 
their dock- yards which were expofed to the in- 
fpe&ion of flrangers, were preparing others of 
much larger dimenflons, in more obfcure and 
retired building places ; and that their national 

flotilla 



( 30 2 ) 

flotilla will, therefore, be generally compofed of 
vefTels of a more formidable fize than we have 
been led to expect. Such a ftratagem, which 
would be impracticable in England, is, from the 
exifting difpofition of France, perfectly eafy of 
execution in that country. 

Note (d\ Page 247, 
This, together with many facts upon record, 
prove the unexampled bad faith of the prefent 
government of France. The Executive Directory, 
bad as they were, dared not to have been fo 
openly unprincipled. It is a notorious fact, that 
arrears due to officers for the years four, five 
and fix of the republic, are fr.il! unpaid, and will 
ever remain fo, becaufe, fay the agents of the go- 
vernment, there are no funds in the treafury to 
anfwer the demands of thofe years ; while the ar- 
rears for the period during which the confular 
government has exifted (a fubfequent one) have 
been oftentatioufly liquidated. Were not the 
officers of the years four, five and fix fervants of 
the public, as well as thofe of eight, nine and 
ten ? But this diflinction is a fpecies of mockery 
upon the underftanding, to which the French 
people have, for fome time, been accuftomed. 

Note (<?). Page 249. 
The prices of bread in England and France at 
this moment is as eight-pence halfpenny is to 
2 (even- 



( 3°3 ) 

feven-pence the quartern loaf. Befide that the 
French confume much more of this article, as 
eight-pence halfpenny can be earned more eafily 
in England than four-pence in France, it muft be 
evident to the meanefl: understanding that the 
price of bread at feven-pence in France is little 
fhort of double what it is at eight pence half- 
penny in England. Candles are eighteen fous or 
nine-pence per pound in France, and only eleven- 
pence in England. All tbefe articles are there- 
fore, upon the principles laid down, confiderably 
-cheaper in this country. 

Note .(/). Page 249. 

No receipt, bill of exchange, petition, or other 
public paper, is good without a itamp. The or- 
dinary value of a (lamp for frnall funis, is fe- 
venty-five centimes or fifteen foils, equal to feven- 
pence halfpenny. Compare this with the fame 
tax in England, allowing for the different capa- 
bilities of paying them in each country ; and then 
judge which of the two people are mofl highly 
taxed. 

Note (g). Page. 259. 

It has been mentioned in the newfpapers here 
fince my return, that many Irifh officers were 
with the French army at Breft. But, if this be 
true, I am perfuaded they are only compofed of 
the mod obfcure individuals who have been 

obliged 



( 3°4 ) 

obliged to leave that country. *Thofe, among 
them, who have common fenfe, are heartily tired 
of their new connection, to which nothing could 
induce them to adhere but the cruel neceffity of 
their fate. 



N. B. I willi it to be underflood that, when I 
prefented the memorial alluded to in this work, 
refpecling epidemic difeafes, to the minifter of 
the interior of the French republic, the govern- 
ment of that country was at peace with ours ; 
that Bonaparte (till wore the mafk of pacificator, 
a title which he had vaingloriouily afiurned ; and 
that he had not yet, by ordering himfelf to be 
elected Firft Conful for life, and various other 
acts of defpotic authority, fhewn the thorough 
criminality of his views, or betrayed the inordi-* 
nate nature of his pretenfions. After having had 
fuch convincing proofs of his turpitude, I fhculd 
have accounted it an indelible difgrace to have 
had*any connection, direclly or indirectly, with 
his government, excepting for thepurpofe of get* 
ting beyond its tyrannical jurifdiction. 



THE END, 



Printed by A. Stranan, 
Printers-Street 



